


The Artist and The Doctor

by theshadowphantom102



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Action/Adventure, Eventual Smut, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-11
Packaged: 2018-03-10 20:04:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 47,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3301817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshadowphantom102/pseuds/theshadowphantom102
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claire Carlo was a very shy and timid art major with little to no confidence in herself. Suddenly her world is turned upside down when a man called The Doctor shows up and saves her town from an alien. An alien she made up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** **All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

_Beep… beep… beep…_

My alarm clock read 7:15. I groaned and smashed my hand down on the alarm clock causing the annoying beeping to stop. I groggily stumbled out of bed and selected my outfit for the day. I pulled on a pair of white skinny jeans, beat up black converse, and a navy blue t-shirt with a bow tie and _bow ties are cool_ printed on it in white. Once I was fully clothed, I made my way for the bathroom and examined myself in the mirror.

I looked awful…

 _Well then again I was up half the night working on a project that was due this morning. Which I still had yet to finish._ I let out a low groan as let out my waist length curly dark brown hair from a high bun. It was sticking out in all sorts of directions making me look like I was from the jungle. My face was paler than usual and there were dark circles under my brown eyes. With a sigh I attempted to tame my mane by brushing it out, but it only made it bushier so I tied it into a high ponytail with a white ribbon. Deciding that I looked decent enough and was too tired to put any makeup on, I grabbed my black messenger bag and a grey sweatshirt before heading out the door.

The weather was fairly warm for late October, with only a light breeze whipping gently at my skin. The streets of Salem, Massachusetts were slightly busier than usual due to the Halloween season. Even at this hour of the morning there were still a few witches roaming the streets setting up displays of ingredients needed for spells or signs offering tarot readings.

I walked down the street to a cute little coffee shop called “The Brew”. The lovely smell of freshly made coffee filled my nostrils leaving a warm feeling of content spread throughout my body. I ordered a small hot chocolate and took a seat at a table right outside of the shop. I sipped at my hot chocolate enjoying the creamy richness of my beverage in perfect contrast with the smell of crisp autumn leaves taking their fall. My calm reverie was disrupted suddenly, when I remembered that I had failed to finish my homework last night. With a heavy sigh I pulled out my sketchbook along with an HB pencil and a kneadable eraser. I stared at the half finished sketch in front of me. There was still something off about it. I erased it yet again and began sketching yet another made up alien character for one of my many Illustration courses.

“Hi Claire!” My head perked up at the mention of my name. Two of my life long friends Maia and Danae both with coffee cups in their hands sat at the table beside me.

“How are you?” Danae asked a sweet smile on her face.

“You know, the usual…” I answered with a heavy sigh as I erased my alien for what seemed like the eleventh time. I threw my pencil down in frustration. “I have the worst case of artist’s block right now!” I grumbled rubbing my temples.

“It’s ok… It happens to the best of us.” Danae answered taking a sip of her coffee. Her blue-green eyes glanced back up at me through her black-framed glasses.

“Yah, it just can’t come soon enough… This sketch is due in an hour…and I can’t seem to come up with an alien that looks good enough.”

“How about you make it a human with lizard type features… that could easily pass off as an alien.”

“I’ve tried that…” I moaned when suddenly a small spark of inspiration hit me. “No wait! I got it!” Ideas started popping into my head as I sketched out a humanoid-lizard-creature. I dressed it in old roman armor with intricate alchemist signs engraved in the metal. I was really beginning to get into my drawing when Maia cleared her throat loudly breaking my sudden artist frenzy. I looked up at her only to see a Cheshire cat worthy smile plastered across her lips, her light blue eyes sparkling with mischief. Not a good sign.

“Oh God, what are you up to now?” I asked warily.

She pushed her light blonde bangs out of her face and smirked.

“There’s this guy that I met and I think he’ll be a great match for you-“

“No.” I said cutting her off. _Oh no, not again…_

“Oh come on! You haven’t even met him yet!” She protested in an annoying whine.

“I don’t do blind dates. Especially when _you_ set them up for me.”

“Ok, how was I supposed to know that last guy was a drug dealer?”

“Are you kidding? He practically screamed drug dealer. Definitely one of the sketchiest human beings I’ve ever met.” I said blowing a piece of hair out of my face.

“Claire, I swear, this guy is not a sketchy drug dealer. He’s really nice and is attending med school!” She exclaimed in excitement.

I shook my head. “I’m not ready.”

“You’re never ready! Claire, you’re twenty years old… I think it’s about time we found you a boyfriend so you won’t end up being one of those creepy old ladies who collect cats and never married or even got a date in their lives.”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“She’s right.” Danae said suddenly stepping in. She brushed a piece of her light brown hair out of her face before continuing. “You’ve never really interacted with a guy before and it’s not like you have to date him or anything. You could just meet him and see what he’s like. You’ll never know he may end up being a good friend or maybe even something more. But first you need to give him a chance. Plus, I think this is the perfect opportunity to break you out of your shell.”

I sighed in defeat. I knew they were right, but I already knew this guy wouldn’t like me. I was always too shy or too awkward when I was around new people. I never really had anything interesting to say let alone know what to say. I always choked up. Not once have I ever let myself speak my mind and let others hear what I had to say. I guess you could say I was too afraid to or maybe that was just my anxiety issue taking over, but then again that was basically the same thing in my book.

I glanced at my friends who stared back at me expectantly. I chewed on my bottom lip in thought, one of my many habits that I couldn’t seem to break.

“Maybe.” I said softly.

“Yay!” Maia exclaimed happily, obviously thinking that I would go. “You can meet him at the Halloween party tonight! Oh this is going to be so much fun!”

“I said maybe… I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to make it tonight. I have enough work to do as it is.” I pulled my phone out of my bag. It read 8:24. “No, no, no! Not again!” I gasped jumping to my feet and stuffing my art supplies in my bag. “I’m going to be late again.”

“Time never really was you thing…” Maia said with a cringe, as if she had a bad taste in her mouth.

I gave her a look. “That’s why I’m not a mathematics major.” I answered coolly slinging my messenger bag over my shoulder.

“Personally I think you should come. You’re under enough stress as it is. Take a breather every one in a while.” She said leaning in slightly.

“I’ll think about it. Right now I really have to go!” I started to back away from the table before throwing them a wave. “Bye!”

“DON’T FORGET TO WEAR A COSTUME!”  Maia called after me.

I raced down the street in a frenzy praying that I wouldn’t be late for the second time this week. After two blocks of frantic running I finally reached the University of Fine Arts. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I raced up the stairs with only a minute left to spare. I stormed into the building relief warming my insides when it dawned on me that I was going to make it. My class was just down the hallway. I slowed down in an attempt to catch my breath when suddenly I crashed into someone unexpectedly and fell on the floor with a loud thud.

“Ouch…” I rubbed the back of my head in pain.

“Oh dear, I am so sorry. I didn’t see you there. Are you all right?”

_Was that a British accent? This was a very small school and I knew for a fact that there weren’t any people from England here._

I looked up and saw a twenty something year old man looking down at me with a look of concern on his face. He was rather handsome with brown hair that fell in front of his grey-green eyes, which seemed older than he appeared. His outfit however was… different. He was clad in a tweed jacket with a light pink shirt, suspenders, black trousers, brown dress shoes, and a red bow tie. He extended a hand to me and helped me to my feet.

“Err yah, I’ll be fine. Thank you.” I managed to utter out, the shy side of me suddenly gaining control. I started to walk away. _Great I’m late… again._ Anxiety started to creep up on me. _No not now._

“You sure you’re all right?” The man asked me again. I stopped walking and turned around to face him yet again.

I waved him off awkwardly. “I’m fine.” I managed to say loud enough for him to hear.

“Ok, that’s good. I’m the Doctor.” He said with a smile and held his hand out for me to shake.

I raised an eyebrow at him and eyed his hand nervously. “Doctor who?”

He seemed to get a big kick out of that question and laughed whole heartily. “Just the Doctor.”

“Ok?” I awkwardly shook his hand. “Well, if you excuse me, Doctor? I’m late…” I started to head off towards my classroom.

“Wait!”

I turned around.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

I eyed him warily before answering. “Claire.”

He gave me a huge childish grin that seemed to suite him. “Well, I hope to see you again soon Claire.” With that he walked out of the building, leaving me disserted in the hallway.

 

**A/N:** **Hi Everyone! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I originally had this story on Fanfiction.net but decided to try it on this site as well. I'll be** **posting all of the chapters I currently have over the weekend. Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

Luckily Professor White was in a good mood today and let my tardiness slide. All eyes were on me as I frantically scanned the room for an open seat. My face began to heat up from embarrassment asI quickly shuffled to the farthest side of the room where there was an empty easel. Today’s class ended up being a deeper look on your alien character. So we were allowed to spend the next three hours fully developing our aliens, which I was thankful for since mine still wasn’t finished. 

Professor White had a slight obsession with the “Lord of the Rings Trilogy “ and played the soundtrack in the background. “May it be” by Enya was the first to pop up on random. I smiled slightly and let the relaxing music surround me while I worked.

I added a light green tint to my alien’s skin and made his scales more translucent. I shaded in his armor and filled in the alchemist designs with a light neon blue. Looking my creature over I decided he needed something to make him stand out more and give him more character. Using the same light neon blue, I made his eyes slightly fiery and made the same fire come out of his nostrils and fingertips. I had to say, I was pretty satisfied with the outcome of my creation, and it didn’t end up being a complete disaster like I thought it would be.

As I worked on my alien a nagging little voice in the back of my head kept whispering anxious thoughts to me.

 _Who was that man? Why does he call himself the Doctor? Surely he must have a name… unless he doesn’t want anyone to know his name because he’s some crazed psychopath!_  I shook my head. _No anxious thoughts!_ I scolded myself. _You have better things to worry about; like what kind of guy Maia is trying to set you up with this time._ I winced at the thought and pushed all unwanted thoughts out of my head as I tried to remain focused on my artwork.

 

~

 

Five hours later and I was free for the next three days with absolutely no classes. The only downside though was that I had about six hours worth of homework to do, the majority of it being artwork, so I couldn’t really complain.

I trudged down the stairs of my school and headed back to my apartment. Upon rounding the corner I stopped dead in my tracks.

_Where the hell did that come from?_

Standing in the middle of the sidewalk was a blue police box? The kind that you would find in London, but I was pretty sure they didn’t have those around anymore.

I walked up to it cautiously.

_What was it doing here? It definitely wasn’t here this morning. Was this someone’s idea of a prank? Maybe it was a cardboard box or something…_

I tentatively knocked on it. It was solid wood.

I continued to examine the police box in puzzlement. Sadly the doors were locked so I couldn’t see what was inside. After a few moments I gave up on it and continued down the street to my apartment.  I opened the door and flipped on the lights.

“SURPRISE!”

“Oh my god!” I screamed grasping my chest as it beat a million times a minute. Danae and Maia burst into a fit of giggles. “How the hell did you guys get in here? The door was locked!”

“Molly let us in.” Danae answered innocently.

I made a mental note to scold my roommate later. “Ok… but why sit in here with the lights off?”

“We knew you were going to be home soon and we decided to scare you.” Maia smiled evilly.

I glared at them “You guys know how that I scare easily.”

“Which is why we love to do it!” They giggled in unison.

Rolling my eyes I threw my messenger bag on the couch and plopped my self in between the two of them. “Ok, whatever. Is Molly still here?”

“No she had a date.” Maia said coolly, her eyes suddenly brightened as recognition hit her face. “Speaking of which, time to plan out your costume!” She squealed excitedly as she lightly slapped my leg repeatedly, a habit of hers when she got really excited.

I gulped nervously. “Did you guys see the police box down the street?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject.

“Police box?” Danae asked.

“Don’t they have those in England?” Maia wondered wrinkling her nose in confusion.

“I think they used to. Anyways, on my way home I saw one sitting in the middle of the sidewalk and it definitely wasn’t there this morning.”

Danae made her way to the door.  “Well we didn’t see one when we got here, which was about… ten minutes ago?” She turned to Maia, who nodded in agreement.

The three of us made our way outside.

“I thought that maybe it was someone’s idea of a prank, but how would they get it here in the first… place…” My voice trailed off as I stared at the sidewalk in astonishment. “How is that even possible?” I said under my breath.

I ran to the spot where the police box was not only a minute ago.

“I swear it was right here! How did it move so fast?”

“Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things?” Danae asked concern starting to cross her features.

“No, I’m positive! I-I touched it! It was solid wood!”

“It is Halloween, maybe someone’s trying to pull a prank on you.” Maia suggested with a shrug.

I walked back to my friends.

“I don’t get it. I swear there was a blue police box smack in the middle of the sidewalk. You couldn’t miss it!” I sighed in defeat and rested my forehead on Danae’s shoulder. “Maybe I’m going crazy.” I mumbled.

Danae rubbed my back in reassurance. “No, you’re not going crazy. I’m sure it’s just someone messing with your head.”

“Yeah, nothing to worry about.” Maia said with a smile. “Now let’s go get ready for the party!” She then grabbed us both by the hand and dragged us back to my apartment.

 

~

 

It was almost 7 o’clock and I was curled upon the couch eating a bowl of ramen and watching the classic Halloween film _Hocus Pocus._ At that moment Maia and Danae came strolling out of my bedroom all decked out in their Halloween costumes.

Maia was supposed to be some sort of Burlesque style spider queen. She wore a short royal purple and black dress that stopped at about mid thigh with black spider webs trailing off the ends of the sleeves and skirt. Around her neck was a black gothic choker with purple gems decorating it. She wore black fishnet stockings and knee high back leather boots with a 4” heel, which she definitely did not need since she was already 5’7”.  Her blonde hair was pulled up in a tight bun and a black top hat was pinned to the side of her head. As for her makeup she sore black lipstick and a smokey eye with purple and silver glitter sprayed on the sides of her face in the shape of cobwebs.

Danae however was dressed in a much more modest fashion. She was supposed to be a witch from the medieval era. She wore a black full-length corset dress with a red cloak. Around her neck was a garnet pendant choker and on top of her head was the traditional witch hat with a red sash trailing along the bottom. Her light brown hair was teased out and she dyed grey and black streaks into it. To complete her costume she wore red lipstick and cat eye eyeliner with red stick on jewels trailing along the ends.

“Wow you guys look great!” I said with a smile.

“Claire, why aren’t you dressed?” Danae asked.

I thought back to the gothic fairy costume Maia had brought for me. The skirt was way too short for my comfort and I was not strutting around in fishnets and black knee high leather boots that were 6 inches tall.

“I’m just going to go like this.” I said motioning to the outfit I was already wearing.

“Oh, come on! You’d look damn sexy in that costume.” Maia pouted.

“I am not meeting a guy in a slutty fairy costume!” I protested.

She glared at me before giving in. “Fine, but don’t come crying to me when people make fun of you for wearing a “Bow Ties are Cool” t-shirt instead of a costume.”

“People are not going to make fun of me and besides, bow ties are cool…” I mumbled to myself.

“Do people even wear bowties anymore?” Danae asked throwing her purse over her shoulder.

“I met a guy today who was wearing one.” I shrugged.

“Was he an elderly man?” Maia joked trying to hold back a laugh.

I shook my head. “No, he was probably in his mid, late 20’s.” I said casually, heading for the kitchen to clean up my bowl.

“Wait what?”

Maia and Danae were suddenly on either side of me bombarding me with questions.

“Was he cute?”

“What’s his name?”

“Did you get his number?”

I was about to answer when Maia turned off the sink and dragged me over to the table. She plopped me down in a chair and the two of them crowded around me. I gulped nervously wishing I had kept me mouth shut.

“Ok, spill.” Maia said impatiently a huge grin plastered on her face.

“There isn’t really much to say.” I started. “I was running late for class and I accidentally bumped into him.”

“Aww, that’s how all cute romances start.” Danae gushed, a dopey smile on her face.

“I highly doubt that, besides, I only talked to him for a minute.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What did he look like? Was he cute?” Maia asked growing more impatient by the second.

“I guess… he was really tall, probably around 6ft. He had brown hair, green eyes and he was British. He seemed kind of childish though.” I shrugged. “Why are you guys so interested in this guy? Besides weren’t you trying to set me up with someone else?”

“Screw him, this guy’s British!” Maia shrieked in excitement. “Please tell me you got his number!”

“No, I did not get his number. I don’t even know the guy, besides I doubt I’ll ever see him again.”

“Claire, where do we live?’

“Salem.” I answered giving her a confused look. _What did this have to do with anything?_

“And what day is it?”

“The 31st.” I said deciding to be difficult.

“It’s Halloween you idiot! So he’s obviously here for the witch craft, the history and most importantly the parties!” She shimmied her shoulders for more emphasis on “parties”.

“He didn’t seem like that kind of guy.” I murmured.

“Well he’s still a dude and you my friend are no longer going to be single. Come on girls, we’re going to go hunt this guy down!” Maia announced in determination.

“What about Matt?” Danae asked.

“Cancel him, we’re hooking Claire up with a British guy!”

“But what if he’s a creep.” I protested. _Why doesn’t she think things through?_

“Well, there’s only one way to find out!”

With that I got dragged out into the crisp autumn air. The temperature had dropped slightly causing goose bumps to appear on my exposed arms. The moon was full and a dense fog was covering it causing it to give off an eerie glow, the perfect Halloween night.

Screams and loud music could be heard from down the street where all the haunted houses, museums, and parties were going on.

This was going to be a long night.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

“Maia, let’s think about this rationally!” I begged as she dragged me through the crowded streets of Salem, Danae following close behind. “We don’t even know this guy! For all we know he could be a creepy psychopath or a serial killer!”

“Claire, will you stop being such a worry wart! Live in the moment for once!” She snapped.

I wrenched my hand out of hers and stopped walking. “I’m going home.” I mumbled before turning around and heading in the opposite direction.

“Wait, Claire, I’m sorry!” Maia shouted after me. I ignored her and blindly made my way through the crowds.

“Claire! Please, just wait!” Danae called running up behind me.

I groaned slightly before turning around to face Danae. “You know she didn’t mean it. She’s just trying to get you out of your shell. Yeah, she might be going about it the wrong way, but you know her intentions are good.”

I sighed heavily “I know, I’m just not the partying type. Besides, I don’t feel comfortable in all of these crowds and I’m not very keen on being set up with some guy I don’t even know!”

“Yeah, that was a little uncalled for… but you know how Maia can be.”

I rolled my eyes in agreement. “Yeah, well you tell her that I’m not mad at her and make sure she doesn’t get herself into any trouble. I just need to go home right now and try to relax.”

Danae nodded in understanding. “Ok, I’ll see you later. Call me if you need anything.”

“Will do.” I smiled at her.

With that I made my way through the crowds of people clad in all sorts of costumes waiting in lines at museums, haunted houses, and other attractions. I was about halfway through the crowd when something caught my eye.

_How is that even possible?_

Standing a few feet away from me was an exact replica of the alien creature I had drawn for my Illustration class. Every little detail was spot on from the designs on his armor to the blue fire coming out of his eyes and nostrils. I stared at him in bewilderment.

_How could anyone even pull that off? Was someone stealing my ideas? How did they even get the blue fire?_

I continued to try and wrap my mind around what was in front of me when someone crashed into me for the second time that day breaking me out of my trance.

“Oh dear I am so sorry. I really am a klutz. Are you ok- Claire!” I stared in shock at the same bow-tie-wearing-doctor from earlier today. _Thank God my friends weren’t here._ “Well isn’t this nice. I was hoping I’d bump into you again.” He said with a smile.

“I-it’s nice to see you too.” I stuttered. I quickly looked back to where the alien was, but he was gone. _Damn it._

“Enjoying your Halloween? Lot’s of interesting things to see in good old Salem; haven’t been here in ages. I certainly missed all the witchcraft and history this town has to offer.” He rambled as he rubbed his hands together excitedly.

“Yeah, it get’s really busy around this time of year… Are you ok?”

He seemed to have frozen with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Oh my stars…” He said under his breath.

“What?”

All of a sudden he flailed his arms about in excitement, a stupid grin on his face.

“Finally someone agrees with me!” He cried happily and pulled me into a tight hug.

A gasp escaped my lips and I quickly pushed away from him, as my cheeks grew hot and panic started to creep up on me.

He seemed to have sensed my discomfort and immediately apologized. “Oh, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you; it’s just that I really like your shirt. You see everyone I’ve met has always asked me why I wear a bow tie because they think they’re rather dreadful looking, but Claire, my friend, your shirt explains it all. Bow ties are and forever will be cool.”  He grinned pointing at my shirt.

I shifted uncomfortably. “Err, thank you.” To be honest I didn’t really know what else to say. This guy was just strange and I didn’t know if he was some creep or if he was just overly friendly. I had a feeling it was most likely the latter.

“May I ask where you got that beautiful shirt?” He asked eagerly.

“I um… found it in a store at the ma-“ My voice trailed off when I spotted the person dressed up as my alien character again standing a few feet behind the Doctor.

The Doctor arched one of his none existent eyebrows at me before turning around.

“Oh wow! Now there’s something I’ve never seen before.” He said in excitement a huge grin on his face. “I just love discovering new species!”

“What are you talking about, it’s a costume.” I asked starting to fear for this man’s sanity.

“A costume? You humans are so silly sometimes.” He laughed as he grabbed a hold of my hand and started dragging me towards the alien while rambling on about a lot of nonsense. “That Claire; is an alien! An alien I’ve never seen before which is very rare because I’ve pretty much encountered every type of species that the universe has created. But then again it’s always a pleasant surprise when I do find someone new.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked in confusion as I let him drag me along with him.

We stopped in front of the guy with the costume. I couldn’t help, but glare at him. _Stealing my idea._ I thought angrily.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor. Where may I ask are you from? I’ve never met anyone like you before. Always really exciting when I meet a new species.” The Doctor rambled.

The guy stayed silent and stared at us intently. I stared back at him uncertainly. _There’s no possible way he knows that it’s an Oxyopythene from the planet Spockyotythamous. I didn’t even write that down on the paper with the drawing, in fact I just made that up right now on the spot. At least he couldn’t steal that idea._

“I am an Oxyopythene. I hail from the planet Spockyotythamous.” He claimed in a raspy voice.

I tensed up and let my hand slip out of the Doctor’s as I stared at the creature in shock.

“Claire are you ok?” The Doctor asked in concern.

I took a step back and eyed the creature warily. My heart rate started to pick up and my palms began to sweat. My teeth chattered slightly as my anxiety started to raise its ugly head.

“How do you know that?” I asked my voice shaking slightly with anger and fear. “I never wrote that down on the paper, not to mention even spoke of it to anyone. I just thought of that right now! Are you reading my mind or something? How did you get my drawings? How could you have been able to make this costume in only a couple of hours?”

“I don’t understand.” The creature rasped.

“What do you mean you don’t understand?”  I was growing hysterical. “Either you’ve been stealing my ideas or you really are an alien, but I highly doubt that because aliens aren’t real!”

The Doctor cleared his throat causing me to look at him.

“Right?” I asked him fearing the answer. Tears were starting to prickle at my eyes and my teeth were chattering so hard it was getting hard for me to talk properly.

The alien then started to walk away clearly growing bored with us.

The Doctor didn’t answer instead he grabbed my hand and squeezed it slightly. “I’ll explain everything later, I promise.” He gave me a small smile before darting off after the alien.

I stood there in the middle of the crowded street feeling completely lost and confused.

_What just happened?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** **All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

_I must be losing my mind. Of course aliens aren’t real. That doctor guy probably thinks I belong in the Looney bin after the way I was carrying on to that alien… No it was not an alien! It was a guy in a costume!_ I shook my head in exasperation. _Why can’t my mind just shut up for once?_

Suddenly loud screams could be heard and the crowd around me erupted into a panic. People pushed past me in a hurry causing me to be tossed about and almost get trampled on by their sudden stampede. I managed to get out of the crowd and stood off to the side. Everyone was freaking out and trying to get away as quickly as possible.

_What are they running from?_

I tried peering over the frantic flock of people in hopes of catching a glimpse of what was causing all of the commotion, but there was no way I could see anything from where I was standing.

_Ugh, being short really did have its disadvantages._

I scanned the area before spotting a couple of crates stacked on top of each other a few feet away from me. Without hesitation I scrambled to the top of the crates and gazed over the crowd of panicking people. Just down the block over by the witch dungeon I saw a blaze of blue fire.

“It can’t be…” I said under my breath.

“CLAIRE!” I startled slightly at the mention of my name before looking down to see Maia, Danae, my roommate Molly and her boyfriend Neil, looking up at me, panic and worry etched on their faces.

“What are you doing here? We thought you went home.” Maia asked frantically.

“Well, I was-” I started before Danae cut me off.

“Oh never mind that.” She said worry tainting her features. “Claire, you’re shaking. Are you okay?”

I jumped off the stack of crates and joined my friends.

“D-did you g-guys see that?” I asked through my chattering teeth.

“What the blue fire? Of course we saw it! Everyone saw it that’s why we need to get out of here!” Maia panicked.

I gulped and forced my teeth to stop chattering. “Did you see what was causing the fire?” I asked firmly, taking my friends off guard.

“No, we just started running with the crowd. Now come on we need to get back to the apartment!” Molly begged.

I shook my head slightly. “No, I need to see what’s happening.” Turning away from my friends I started heading in the direction of the fire. “Go on without me.”

“Claire are you out of your mind?”

“This is not like you to run into danger! You’re usually the first one running!”

“Claire, please come back!”  
Ignoring their pleas I ran into the crowd hoping that I lost them. I pushed my way through until I was a few feet away from where the destruction was taking place. Everyone had already deserted the area, except for a few people lying on the ground injured or worse. A few buildings were glowing blue and the creature that I drew stood in the middle of it. The creature I created. I was the cause of this. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and I felt a wave of nausea come over me. _Was I a murderer? No, this thing… This monster was the murderer, not me._ Mustering up all the courage I could, I called out to it.

“Hey, Oxyopythene!”

It turned around swiftly and set its fiery blue eyes on me. I suddenly felt a lot smaller than I actually was and wanted to run like hell until I was as far away from this thing as possible. _No Claire, you can do this…_

I gulped before finding my voice again “Why are you here?” I asked with an authority I didn’t even know I could posses.

The Oxyopythene eyed me curiously and started to walk towards me. I felt my body stiffen when it was only less than a couple of inches away from me. My heart was beating at a dangerously fast rate and my palms where sweating bullets. Its icy breath blew on my face, causing a shiver to run down my spine. The blue flames tickled at my skin, but they didn’t even faze me. _Why wasn’t my face on fire?_   The fire merely felt like a cool breeze wiping at my face.

“You brought me here.” It rasped out.

I cocked my head to the side in confusion. “But I didn’t intend to. I didn’t even know that you would come to life, heck I didn’t even think that was possible.” I laughed nervously.

It opened its mouth to speak again when all of a sudden a loud buzzing sound filled the air.

“Oi, Claire! Quick out of the way!”

I turned around and saw the Doctor come running up to me a glowing green torch of some sort in his hand.

Outraged the Oxyopythene turned away from me and headed for the Doctor. It’s eyes blazed with anger as it took in a deep breath, getting ready to blast the Doctor with its blue flames.

I squeaked in surprise when the Doctor suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me behind a building for shelter.

“What did you do that for?” I heaved trying to catch my breath.

“It was about to shoot blue flames at us, what else was I supposed to do?” He exclaimed putting his hands up in mock defense. He then took the strange glowing green torch out again and started scanning me with it. I arched an eyebrow in confusion at him while he studied it once he was done scanning me.

He frowned slightly causing the crease marks in his forehead to deepen. He glanced at me and pursed his lips in thought.

“What is that thing?” I asked breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Sonic screwdriver.” He answered while putting it back in his coat pocket. He started pacing back and forth while running his fingers through his floppy hair in frustration as he mumbled randomly to himself.

“Err, Doctor, don’t you think we should try to reason with it… maybe?” I asked wringing my hands shyly.

He quickly spun around on his heal and faced me an unreadable expression on his face. “Tried that before, didn’t work out too well.” He continued to pace and ramble while I stood off to the side trying to muster up the courage to explain my plan to him.

I took a deep breath and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around so quickly he nearly knocked me over.

“Oops, sorry. My steering tends to be off quite a bit in this form.” He said steadying me so I wouldn’t fall over.

“I think I might be able to reason with it.” I blurted out.

He eyed me unsteadily.

“Before you came, the Oxyopythene was talking to me and actually answering my questions. He didn’t try to hurt me or anything!” I added quickly. “In fact, the blue fire… some of it brushed against my face and it didn’t even faze me. It just felt cold…” I said looking ahead in the distance remembering the chill of its breadth. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered slightly at the memory.

The Doctor placed his hands on my shoulders and gazed into my eyes. I never noticed just how beautiful his eyes were the last time I looked into them. Yes, the light grey-green shade was lovely, but there was something more to them; they had a certain glint to them that I just couldn’t put my finger on. They seemed…old, trusting, intelligent and so many other things that I never thought I would see just by looking into a person’s eyes. Every cautious thought I had about him in the past suddenly vanished and I felt like I could actually trust him.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked searching my eyes.

I gulped nervously before nodding my head. He smiled slightly and kissed my forehead taking me completely off guard. He pulled away and took my hand in his.

“Let’s see what we can find out eh?”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

The two of us ran out from behind the building we were using for shelter and sought out the Oxyopythene. Which wasn’t too hard because I had to push the Doctor out of the way from a sudden burst of blue flames. The flames circled around me in a fiery chill. A shiver ran throughout my body as the cool flames licked at my skin causing goose bumps to surface on my arms.  Shivering slightly I pulled away from the chilling flames as they began to die out.

“How… how…” The Doctor gasped looking at me in shock as he ran his fingers through his hair, not quite knowing what to do with himself. “Those flames burn! I mean no offense or anything, but how are you not a pile of ash right now?”

“I don’t know… they just don’t affect me. Now aren’t we going to go question that thing?” I asked in an attempt to get him back on track.

He raised his pointer finger in the air and formed an “O” with his lips. “Right, come along Claire.” He grabbed a hold of my hand and we ran in the direction the flames had come from.

We rounded the corner and came face to face with the Oxyopythene. The Doctor and I stopped abruptly in an attempt to not run right into it.  The Oxyopythene stared intently at me with its fiery gaze. I tensed slightly earning a concerning look from the Doctor.

He lowered his head slightly and whispered lightly in my ear. “Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked, his breath tickling my ear slightly.

I nodded and the Doctor squeezed my hand in reassurance before letting it go. My heart thumped wildly in my chest as I cleared my throat nervously.

“Ok, let’s try this again shall we?” I said under my breadth as the Oxyopythene waited for me to continue. I looked back at the Doctor, beginning to feel unsure of myself. He nodded slightly in the direction of the Oxyopythene. I quickly turned back to face the creature and began to interrogate it.

“Why are you here?”

The Oxyopythene blinked slowly before answering in its raspy voice “You brought me here.”

“I know, but _why_ are you here?” I asked softly trying not to let my voice waiver in fear.

It paused in thought. Its blazing blue eyes seemed to see straight into my soul.

“I did not intend to cause harm to others, I only wanted to protect you.”

I stared back at it in confusion. _It wanted to protect me? From what? I wasn’t in any danger… was I?_

“But I’m not in any danger.” I said in an attempt to reassure it as well as myself.

“I am only here to protect you from those who wish to harm you.” It rasped.

“But those were innocent people, they weren’t trying to hurt me.” I told it gently.

The Oxyopythene looked from me to the Doctor before resting its unsettling eyes back on me.

“I’m sorry, I must have been mistaken.” It hung its head in shame as it dropped to its knees and bowed before me.

I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do as the Oxyopythene bowed at me feet in embarrassment.

“Err… Doctor? What do I do?” I asked between my teeth not taking my eyes off the alien bowing at my feet.

In a flash, the Doctor was at my side. He clapped his hands together causing the Oxyopythene to jump back to its feet.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor.” The Doctor smiled. “So, Oxyopythene… do you have a name? I feel rather rude just calling you by the name of your species.” He asked with a guilty laugh.

The creature paused and thought hard for a second before turning his gaze to me. “What is my name?” He asked in confusion.

I staggered slightly, completely taken aback that I needed to name him. “Err, Perious, your name shall be Perious.”

Perious nodded happily and turned his attention to the Doctor. “My name is Perious.” He announced proudly.

The Doctor smiled happily and draped an arm across my shoulders. “Well then Perious, perhaps we should take you back home then. No need to worry about Claire, she’s in no danger and if you feel the need to reassure yourself, just pop on by and visit her.”

 _Wait visit me? He was going to let some strange alien visit me whenever it pleased? What was with this guy?_ I suddenly felt the urge to elbow him in the ribs, but I held back deciding it probably wouldn’t be a good idea. _He was taking everything a little to well though… almost like he’s done this on a daily basis._

“Until then, farewell Claire, Doctor.” Perious said bowing slightly to the both of us.

All of a sudden a harsh wind picked up and blew around us as Perious disintegrated into thin air. Once Perious was gone the wind died down and the gentle breeze that was blowing before returned.

I stared at the spot where Perious once stood in complete and utter shock, my mouth hanging slightly agape.

The Doctor took it upon himself to close it shut with his hand. I looked up at him in confusion.

“Where did he go?” I asked stating the obvious, as usual.

“Back to his home planet most likely. Looks like you got yourself a guardian.” He said with a laugh.

“So you’re completely cool with that? An alien who was once attacking my town is now allowed to come and visit me whenever it wants to make sure I’m all right?” I asked beginning to get my common sense knocked back into me.

“Yup.” He said as he began walking off.

“Wait!” I called as I ran up to him. I fell back into step with him as we headed to who knows where. “You seem to take these things pretty lightly. Aliens coming out of nowhere and attacking a small town, helping in any way that you can and then you’re off on your merry way.  You probably do this just about everyday, don’t you?” I asked. Never in my entire life had I been so forward and able to speak my mind so freely, it was really beginning to scare me.

The Doctor flashed me a knowing smile as we reached a blue telephone box, the same blue telephone box that was on my street earlier this afternoon. A light gasp escaped my lips. _It was him the whole time._

“Just about.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

“Who are you?” I asked curiously. _This man was definitely not normal…_

He leaned casually against the telephone box and crossed his arms against his chest, the smile on his face growing wider by the second.

“I’m the Doctor.” He stated in a matter of fact tone of voice.

_Like I didn’t already know that? This man was impossible._

I eyed him carefully, the look on his face was beginning to prove that he probably already knew what I was going to ask, which was a bit unnerving, but then again this man was definitely beyond ordinary.

“Ok then, _what_ are you?”

He clapped his hands together in delight and did a mini jump so that he was standing only a few inches away from me. I craned my head up to look him in the eye since he was so tall compared to my tiny 5’1” frame.

“Now this may come as a bit of a shock so brace yourself, ok. Ready?”

I looked up at him uncertainly. Anxiety was starting to creep up at me begging me to run and get the hell out of there before I got kidnapped or something. _What have I gotten myself into?_ Hesitantly, I nodded my head causing a huge grin to grace his lips. He took my hand in his and rested it on the left side of his chest. I eyed him curiously not knowing what was so special about his heart; that is until he moved my hand. A gasp escaped my lips as the gentle beating of a second heart thumped against my hand.

“There’s two-“ I stuttered.

“I’m a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.” He whispered never breaking eye contact. He pulled away and looked at me expectantly as he rocked back and forth on his feet slightly in anticipation.

I stood there in silence for a moment pondering carefully over the title of ‘Time Lord’ in my head. _Time Lord… a Lord of Time? What did that even mean? Gallifrey? Where was that? He has two hearts! And what was with the telephone box?_ So many questions were reeling through my head I was finding it hard to focus.

“So is a Time Lord… are you an alien of some sort then?”

“Well, I guess you can say that.” He said as he started walking around me and talking with his hands as he rambled. “In your eyes I’m an alien, but then again in my eyes you’re an alien as well as a lot of other people. Oh Claire, so many species, planets, and civilizations to see!” He exclaimed spinning around to face me as he once again leaned up against the side of the telephone box. “What do you say Claire, want to have a look?” He asked with a smirk and a strange twinkle in his eye as he gestured to the door of the telephone box.

I crossed my arms against my chest eying him carefully.

“So let me get this straight. You’re a Time Lord, an alien from the planet Gallifrey and you want to take me with you and basically show me the rest of the universe in a British telephone box?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Basically, yeah.” He said with a shrug. “So what do you say?”

I scratched my head in thought. “I think you’re nuts.”

With that he started laughing whole-heartedly. “Most people do.”

I giggled slightly at that. _This man… or alien… was so strange… but dare I say it, I think I was beginning to warm up to him a bit more… a lot more faster than I usually would… there was just something about this ‘Doctor’ that made him so comfortable to be around. But then again there was always that little bit of doubt that always sat in the back of my head nagging at me and bringing all of my fears back to the surface. What if…_

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I asked suddenly.

“You don’t… but then again things haven’t exactly been what you would call normal for you today now have they?”

_Of course today hasn’t been normal, it’s been way past normal and I had a feeling it would get even weirder if I accepted this man’s offer, but then again curiosity was beginning to get the best of me…_

I chewed on my bottom lip before finally making up my mind. “Fine, but how are you going to show me the universe in a telephone box?”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Claire.”  He grinned like a madman and threw me a wink. With the snap of his fingers the door opened. I looked up at him hesitantly only to receive an encouraging smile and a nod towards the now opened door. Tentatively I made my way into the box and a small gasp escaped my lips. It was enormous. There was a small staircase leading up to a glass platform with a console of some sort in the middle of the room. Multiple staircases lead off of the glass platform and into other unknown passageways. Blue and orange lights lit up the room and strange circular windows decorated the walls. A soft humming sound filled my ears as I gazed around the room in wonderment.

“Welcome to the TARDIS!” The Doctor exclaimed happily throwing his arms in the air for emphasis. “It can travel anywhere in time and space.”

I stood there in shock with my mouth hanging slightly open; I probably looked like I was catching flies.

The Doctor spun around and looked me in the eye. “So any remarks? Memorable catch phrases? I’ve heard them all.”

I did another quick scan around the room before running outside. I heard the Doctor chuckling softly as I ran around the outside of the box knocking around it and examining its size outside before running back in.

“It’s… the outside… the inside… what? How? Oh my God.” I rambled putting a hand up to my mouth as I tried wrapping my head around the impossible.

The Doctor watched me in amusement before striding over to the console fiddling with a bunch of different buttons and levers. “What’s the matter Claire, cat got your tongue?” He joked.

I took a seat on the captain’s chair and ran my fingers through my hair.  “What did you say this was again?”

“It’s called the TARDIS. Short for ‘Time and Relative Dimensions in Space’. It can go anywhere in time and space and it’s mine!” He exclaimed happily plugging away rapidly on an old typewriter.

“If it’s a time machine slash space ship… then how come it looks like a phone box on the outside?” I asked curiously.

“It’s kind of like camouflage, it’s disguised itself as a police telephone box from 1963. Every time the TARDIS dematerializes in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing it analyzes its surroundings, calculates a twelve dimensional data map of everything within a thousand mile radius and determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment. And then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963… it’s a bit of a fault, been meaning to fix it.” He rambled at such a rapid pace I was almost positive that I missed most of what he had said.

“So where do you want to go first?” He asked jumping in front of me nearly scaring the crap out of me.

I clutched my racing heart. “Excuse me?” I asked breathlessly.

“I said where do you want to go first? All of time and space here at your fingertips surely there must be somewhere you want to go? Something you want to see; experience something you’ve never thought possible.” He asked bending down to my level.

_A chance to see the universe… anything I wanted to see, this man believed he could show it to me with this amazing machine that was capable of traveling anywhere in both time and space. It was definitely unbelievable, but then again I have witnessed many unbelievable things today…_

“Surprise me.” I challenged.

The Doctor grinned like crazy and ran over to the console. He started running around the console flipping different switches, pressing buttons and who knows what else. Finally he rested his hand on a lever and turned his head to me.

“Hold on tight!” He said pulling the lever. A loud humming noise slowly began to pick up as I desperately held on to the railing as we were suddenly flung about. “Hello everything!” He laughed as we took off into time and space.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC. **

The TARDIS came to a halt and the Doctor grinned wildly at me. “Ready to see something truly amazing?” Eagerness lit up his face as he waited impatiently for my answer.

“Where are we?” I asked eying the TARDIS doors nervously. Both fear and curiosity were eating away at me as I wondered what could possibly be hiding behind those doors.

The Doctor grabbed me by the hand and bounced down the steps in excitement as he led me to the doors. He spun around on his heel and put his hands behind his back. A huge contagious grin once again graced his features causing me to smile back. “There’s the smile!” He said with a laugh. I felt my cheeks start to burn from embarrassment as I tried hiding my smile behind my hands. The Doctor placed his hand on the door handle before turning his head around to face me. He leaned in close and brought his voice down to a low whisper. “Close your eyes.”

Immediately I obeyed and the sound of the door clicking open reached my ears. I attempted to open an eye out of curiosity but a hand quickly covered them before I could actually see anything.

“Oi! No peaking!” The Doctor scolded laying his free hand on my right shoulder as he lead me outside.

“Welcome to Transylvania!” The Doctor exclaimed as he removed his hand from my eyes.

I gasped at the sight before me. We stood on top of a steep hill covered in dark blue-green grass peppered with tiny light blue flowers that glowed like fireflies. The sky was a light grey with an enormous red-orange sun lighting up the sky. The hill we stood on top of overlooked the most beautiful city I have ever seen. The buildings were made up of what appeared to be different kinds of crystals. They ranged from many different colors, the majority consisting of white, grey and different shades of purple. The red orange sun hit the crystals at just the right angle causing them to glimmer beautifully in the light.

“It’s beautiful…” I said under my breath. “How is this even real? I must be dreaming…”

At that moment the Doctor pinched my arm.

“Ouch! What was that for?” I asked rubbing my now sore arm.

“You thought you were dreaming, I was just proving you wrong. That is what human’s do, right? Pinch each others arms when they think they’re dreaming.”

I glared at him in annoyance causing him to shuffle uncomfortably. “Right. Sorry. Let’s go see what this planet has to offer, eh?”

With that the Doctor linked my arm through his and led the way to the spectacular city before us.

 

~

 

We came to a halt at a crystal gate. Intricate swirls and patterns were carved into the sparkling light purple stone making it appear extremely delicate and fragile. Manning the gate was a very odd looking 7ft tall man. He was extremely thin and boney making him look like he would fall apart at any moment. His skin was a very light blue and semi transparent allowing you to catch a small glimpse of the bones beneath his skin.  Not a single hair was visible on him; he didn’t even have any eyebrows. His frail form was cloaked in a light black cloak that shimmered whenever the light hit it. Decorating his translucent skin were glittering silver tattoos shaped in intricate swirls and patterns similar to the ones carved on the gate. His most captivating feature was definitely his eyes. They were so pale that the iris was barely visible making his pupils really stand out.

“Welcome to Transylvania. Do you have a pass?” He asked an eerie smile gracing his features.

“Oh! Right! I almost forgot! Hold on I have it here somewhere.” The Doctor rummaged frantically through his pockets before finally pulling out a small black pad. He flashed it at the gatekeeper, who seemed pleased even though it was only a blank white card inside.

“Enjoy you’re stay.” The gatekeeper said as he let us in, the eerie smile never leaving his face.

Once we were out of earshot from the gatekeeper I turned to the Doctor. “The pass is only a blank card?”

“Oh no, this is psychic paper. Very handy, works brilliantly, see?” He spun around and flashed the blank card at me.

“It’s blank.”

The Doctor turned the card over in his hand before looking up at me in curiosity. “You can’t read physic paper.” He uttered under his breath.

“Is that bad?” I asked in confusion.

“No, no. Just different, come along, Claire.” He said walking off. I ran after him and linked my arm through his again, afraid if we separated I would get lost.

“Transylvanians are a very fascinating species. They’re pretty similar to humans, but they’re skin varies in color and they tend to be taller, skinnier, and more translucent. They’re actually very fond of humans and a few of them like to go to and from Earth as much as they please. You’ve probably seen one before, just never realized it. They’re also really creative and artistic! Thought you’d might like that since you’re an artist. Ooh, maybe we can find you some Transylvanian art supplies!” The Doctor rambled happily as we strolled through the crowd of Transylvanians.

I watched in awe as we walked past Transylvanians of different height, color, and age. All of their outfits, makeup, and hairstyles were equally outrageous. One of them was completely decked out in feather boas of red, orange, and yellow. Some of them it was even hard to tell what gender they belonged to. That’s when it all clicked.

“Doctor, are they cross dressers?” I asked curiously.

“Some of them I suppose. They usually like to dress up in whatever form of attire they please, it’s part of their culture.” He glanced down at me in concern. “Claire, are you alright? The color’s completely drained from your face.” He put a hand to my forehead in an attempt to check my temperature. Across the street from us I spotted a Transylvanian who seemed to notice us. He was staring rather intently at the pair of us, causing my anxiety to burst through the roof.

“Doctor, I’m fine. I just think that maybe it would be better if we went back to the TARDIS. Maybe venture a different planet, time period, anywhere, but here!” I said frantically not taking my eyes off the Transylvanian across the street.

“Oh don’t worry, Claire. They’re friendly. I won’t let them hurt you, I promise.” The Doctor draped his arm around my shoulders in reassurance.

“But they’re Transylvanians. Have you not heard of Rocky Horror?” I whispered through gritted teeth.

A laugh escaped from the Doctor’s lips. “Is that what you’re so worried about? Don’t worry none of them are like that. Richard O’Brien just happened to accidentally bump into one on Earth and made up all of that crazy, inappropriate…stuff.” The Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly and removed his arm from my shoulders. He started tugging at his collar in discomfort, almost as if it were choking him.

At that moment the Transylvanian from across the street was standing in front of us a friendly smile plastered across his black painted lips. His skin was pure white with a light dusting of black blush across his cheekbones. His eyes were a light may green which were outlined in a dark smokey eye. He had pin straight blonde hair that came just past his shoulders as well as bangs that were cut straight across, just covering his black outlined eyebrows. He was decked out in a black vest with a pocket watch hanging from the pocket and an emerald green suit jacket and pants.

“Erasmus!” The Doctor exclaimed happily before leaning in and kissing the air beside both of his cheeks. He then motioned to me. “This is my companion Claire.” I smiled shyly at Erasmus earning a slight nod of the head from the Transylvanian. “How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you in probably about a thousand years now. How’s Aeliana?”

“That’s why I’ve come to you Doctor.” Erasmus slurred sadly.

“What’s happened?” The Doctor’s smile fell automatically as if it were never even there.

“About three hundred years ago, Aeliana and I had a daughter, Valeria. She was the most beautiful little treasure I could of asked for. Well anyways, about a few months ago my dear Valeria disappeared. She vanished without a trace in the middle of the night. I tucked her in the night before and the next morning she was rather late coming to breakfast. I went to go fetch her, but she was gone. I don’t know where she could’ve gone; it is very unlike her to runaway especially for this long. Shortly after, other children were beginning to disappear as well. All in the middle of the night, taken from their beds without a sound. It’s very worrisome. Can you help us Doctor? The police have been nothing but the useless lazy bums that they are.” Erasmus pleaded.

The Doctor sniffed the air suddenly and frowned. “Anything else out of the ordinary? Anything different or new happen between the time Valeria disappeared and now?” The Doctor asked before licking his finger and twirling it around in the air. I raised an eyebrow at him. _This guy’s nuts…_

“I’m not entirely sure…” Erasmus put a boney finger to his chin in thought. “We got a new Gatekeeper a week before Valeria disappeared.”

“Right. Thought so.” The Doctor looked around wildly before grabbing my hand and dashing towards a dark alleyway, leaving a confused Erasmus in the dust.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC. **

We came to a stop at the end of the alleyway, a dead end keeping us from going any further. I quickly wriggled my hand out of The Doctor’s and wiped it on my jeans in disgust. “Next time you decide to lick your fingers don’t grab my hand shortly after, ok?”

Completely ignoring me, The Doctor ran up to the brick wall in front of us and sniffed it before finally licking it. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and scanned the wall before carefully examining the results.

“What are you doing?” I asked crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow at him.

“Ah Ha! Thought so!” He exclaimed happily as he continued to ignore me. “Definitely the source.”

“Doctor, what’s going on?” I asked again, this time finally being acknowledged.

“Radiation! I thought something was off. You can smell a tiny bit of radiation in the air, not enough to harm anyone, but enough for someone with a good sense of smell to pick up. And for some reason this brick wall is giving off radiation…” He put his ear up to the wall and a faint smile tugged at his lips.  “Got cha!”

The Doctor then flicked out his sonic screwdriver and ran the glowing green light in some sort of pattern along a few of the bricks. The bricks then started to glow neon blue before they disintegrated away leaving a small passageway open.

“Ready?” The Doctor held his hand out to me, a small smile gracing his lips.

I tentatively placed my hand in his earning a gentle squeeze of reassurance before he led me through the passageway. It was pitch black.

“Holy crap it’s dark!” I whimpered gripping The Doctor’s hand tighter.

The Doctor suddenly pulled out a huge bar of light from his coat pocket.

“Where were you keeping that?” I asked in shock, not have the slightest idea where he could’ve been hiding a torch that big.

“Doesn’t matter. We have light!” His face lit up happily before he tugged me along with him down the narrow passageway.

We continued on in silence until we reached a spacious circular room.

“Oh my god.” My breath hitched in my throat as I took in the disturbing sight before me.

The room was pitch black except for glowing blue tanks set in a circle around a larger tank in the center. Inside the tanks were children… unconscious children…  It appeared as if they were sleeping, but I wasn’t entirely sure. _Please let them be sleeping_ I prayed. The tank in the center glowed the same blue shade as the tanks that held the children, but there were tiny white orbs floating about.

The Doctor immediately dropped my hand and walked up to the tank in the center scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. A frown crossed his features as he read whatever sort of readings he was picking up. He continued to run around the room scanning the tanks, his frown growing deeper by the second as he started to grow frustrated.

“Doctor, what’s going on?” I asked biting my bottom lip in worry. I moved to stand next to him, watching the many tiny orbs dance around one another in the eerie blue glow.

“They’re draining something from these children, but the sonic isn’t reading the substance for some reason. But, whatever they’re draining from these children is being collected into this tank and its being mixed with other components of very high energy. Which explains the reading for radiation. If this continues however, this tank could explode and destroy every living creature on this planet.”

“How do we stop it?” I asked quickly.

“Easy, we turn off the tanks, release the children and bring them back to their families, and we find whoever’s doing this and stop them.” The Doctor answered coolly. “Oh and we only have thirty five minutes.”

“Thirty five minutes?” I asked in disbelief. “How is that easy?”

“Meh, I’ve saved the Earth in 20 minutes before, it shouldn’t be too hard. Hopefully I didn’t just jinx that.” He clapped his hands together and turned to face me. “Right, now Claire, what I need you to do is take the sonic and point it like so while pressing this button.” He demonstrated on one of the tanks containing a little boy probably around the age of three in human years, Transylvanian year, I has no idea what age he was. The glowing blue water that held the child started to drain and the young boy started to wake up.

“Once they’re all awake and out of the tanks do the same thing to the tank in the center. That should stop the process. Got it?”

I nodded my head in understanding.

“Now do not lose this ok? I’m trusting you with the sonic, do not break it, disrupt it, or change the settings. If you do, I will drop you off on a planet and trust me it won’t smell very pretty. ” The Doctor scolded before placing it gingerly in my outstretched hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your baby.” I joked.

The Doctor smiled slightly shaking his head at me in amusement. He pulled the ultra violet torch out of his jacket and placed it in my other hand. “Might need this as well. Now promise me one more thing.” The Doctor placed both of his hands on my shoulders and looked me square in the eye. “If anything goes wrong, run. Run as fast as you can to the TARDIS and do not stop for anyone. Good luck.” With that he kissed the top of my forehead before running out of the room.

I stared at the empty spot where he once stood and shook my head slightly. _Right, run if something goes wrong. But what do I do with the children? I can’t just leave them here?_

“Where am I? Where’s my mommy?”

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and turned to the little boy banging on the glass of the tank. Tears were rolling down his chubby white cheeks and he stared back at me fear tainting his features.

“Don’t worry I’ll get you out.” I said in an attempt to reassure him.

I sonicked the door open and the little boy practically jumped on me and cried into my stomach.

“Oh its ok, little one. You’ll see your mommy soon.” I reassured him. “But right now we need to be brave and get everyone out safe, ok?”

The little boy nodded and stood off to the side. I ran around the room letting children out as quickly as possible. I had only one child left when all of a sudden the lights flickered on and off several times. _Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up._ I quickly finished releasing all of the children, knowing that I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

I pointed the sonic screwdriver at the tank as The Doctor instructed. One by one the little white orbs began to die out and the tank started to lose its glow.

Suddenly the lights flipped on blinding me, I shielded my eyes from the brightness of the light. A familiar breeze picked up and I uncovered my eyes.

“Perious?” I asked in disbelief as the lizard-humanoid clad in Roman armor approached me. The children beside me huddled behind me in an attempt to hide themselves. “Shh it’s okay.” I comforted them.

“Must protect-“ A loud bang rang throughout the room as Perious fell to the ground in a heap.

A gasp escaped my lips as I stared at Perious lying on the ground. He wasn’t moving.

At that moment The Gatekeeper from earlier that day stood in the doorframe blocking the entrance. The same sinister smirk that chilled me to the bone continued to grace his thin lips. His unsettling pale eyes examined me carefully. A low chuckle escaped his lips as I ushered the children towards the dark corridor The Doctor and I originally came through, but it sealed shut before we could reach it.

“How sweet, trying to protect the children?” He laughed causing the blood in my veins to run cold.

Behind him loomed a pair of shadowy figures with glowing red eyes. They made to step forward, but The Gatekeeper stopped them with a flick of his hand.

“Looks like you don’t have much of a plan to go off of now do you? Too bad because I was looking forward to a bit of a challenge, but I guess that won’t be happening today.” He sniffed the air in my direction and shivered as a creepy smile tugged at his lips. “My, my, are you powerful; just what I need for my plan to take route.”

He motioned for the shadow men to come after me. I gulped nervously, my heart pounding furiously in my chest as my palms began to sweat. Frantically I searched the room for a way out, only to turn up fruitless.

A loud explosion rumbled throughout the room as a nearby wall burst sending stray rocks every which way. The Doctor crawled out from the debris; coughing and waving dust out of his face.

“Last time I use dynamite like that.” He muttered to himself. Looking up he greeted us with a sort of surprised look. “Oh, hello. Sorry, was I interrupting something?” He asked innocently. I felt a wave of relief wash over me. _Thank God!_

His lovely grey-green eyes landed on me and a smile brightened his face. “Claire, great job freeing the children I knew you would do splendid. Good thing I gave you the sonic” He winked before turning to The Gatekeeper.

“Ah Mr. Gatekeeper, there you are. Been looking everywhere for you and you’re little cronies.”

“Restrain them.” The Gatekeeper said with a yawn.

A pair of shadow men suddenly appeared behind The Doctor and restrained him as another pair made their way for me.

Not knowing what else to do, I quickly shoved the sonic into the hands of a little girl with pink hair and yellow eyes who was standing behind me and nodded in the Doctor’s direction before they restrained me. I tried fighting against them but their grip was too strong.

“Ooh, this one’s got some fight in her, I like that.” The Gatekeeper smirked.

“Leave her out of this.” The Doctor growled suddenly catching both The Gatekeeper and I by surprise.

“Now someone’s being a little overprotective, don’t you think?” The Gatekeeper chuckled darkly.

“I will not lose anyone else! Not again! Now let her go!” The Doctor threatened. I had never seen the dark side of The Doctor, he always seemed so cheerful and carefree, but there was definitely more sides of him. I don’t know why, but that terrified me.

A loud buzzing noise filled the room and The Doctor was suddenly free.

“Brilliant! Thank you, Valeria.” He gratefully took the sonic screwdriver from the little girl beside him and turned to face The Gatekeeper.

“Now, tell me. What were you draining from these children?” The Doctor asked coolly.

“I might as well tell you, since you’re going to die anyways.” The Gatekeeper said with a shrug. “I was draining them of their souls.” He smiled maliciously. “The perfect ingredient for my concoction to destroy this planet so my species may be reborn. The Ameniatacs will start anew!”

“Ameniatacs? I thought you lot burned out centuries ago?”

“We did, but I survived. I am the last of my kind. For all of these years I’ve been searching for a way to rekindle my race. Now I have finally found it and I will no longer have to weep in loneliness.”

A dark shadow seemed to cast itself over The Doctor as a wave of deep sorrow and regret flashed in his eyes.

“If you were to follow through with this plan of yours, has it ever crossed your mind that you will be killing off a whole other race? What if someone of the Transylvanians ended up surviving? Then they will be the last of their kind. Right in the same place you stand now. Trust me; you don’t want to be the cause of the extinction of an entire species. I know.” The Doctor spoke with such passion the room stayed silent for a moment after he spoke.

The Gatekeeper stood there in shock before he collected himself.

“You have no power over me, Doctor, last of the Time Lords. The Oncoming Storm. You seem to really live up to your name.” The Gatekeeper smirked evilly.

The Doctor glared back at him, his jaw jutting out slightly in anger.

I averted my eyes from the scene for a moment and noticed that the spot where Perious once lay was empty. _What happened to him?_

“If you continue on like this, then this whole planet will explode, wiping out another treasured race. Do you really want that?” The Doctor warned.

“Whatever it takes to get my species back!” The Gatekeeper thundered as he slammed his boney hand down on a button on the center tank.

The tank began to glow once more and the children around me suddenly began slipping into a coma again.

All of a sudden a blue fire engulfed The Gatekeeper. The Doctor and I shielded our eyes from the brightness of the flames as a chilling wind filled the room. When I uncovered my eyes The Gatekeeper was nothing, but a pile of glittering ash on the floor. The Doctor looked down solemnly at it before rushing to my side. The shadow men that were restraining me had disintegrated allowing me to move freely once more.

“Thank the stars.” The Doctor sighed in relief as he pulled me into a comforting embrace.

“Perious…how?” I started

“He’s immortal, yes.” The Doctor said before quickly running back to the tank. He scanned it with the sonic screwdriver only to growl slightly under his breath. “No, no, no! He kicked up the process!”

“What?” I gasped.

“We have fifty seconds. Ok I’m about to do something really stupid. Do you trust me?” He asked taking a hold of my hand.

I squeezed it in return.

“Yes.”

“Geronimo!” He yelled pointing the sonic screwdriver at the tank. A loud explosion rang throughout the room. The blast from the explosion sent us flying across the room and the last thing I remembered was being engulfed in darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC. **

I blinked my eyes open. Everything was blurry and my mind felt like it was in a constant state of fog. Slowly my head began to clear and my eyes started to refocus only to reveal; pale walls, sterile floors, and many different kinds of monitors.

_Great I'm in a hospital._

I groaned at the thought and attempted to push myself up. A sharp pain went through my right side and my head began swimming as nausea came over me.

_Bad idea._

"No, no, no." I was gently pushed back down and a hand brushed back stray bits of hair that had fallen in front of my face.

"Doctor-"I started, but my throat burned when I tried to speak.

"Here this will help." The Doctor handed me a glass containing a bright green liquid.

I eyed it uncertainly before downing the mysterious liquid. Immediately I spit it back out in The Doctor's face, gagging in the process.

"Oh God, what the hell was that?" I asked my voice suddenly back to normal.

"Oi, don't go spitting liquids in my face!" The Doctor said in disgust, wiping his face on my blanket.

"Eww, you're so gross!" I laughed.

The Doctor threw me a cheesy grin as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Why am I in a hospital?" I asked suddenly.

"You're not in a hospital; you're in the TARDIS medical bay. You got knocked out when I counteracted the tank from exploding. The energy sent out very forceful waves of pressure knocking you out in the process. Nothing to worry about though, you just have a minor concussion and a bruise on your right side. You'll probably be a little sore for the next couple of days. As for the liquid I just gave you, that was a throat cleanser, so now you can speak with no problem." The Doctor explained.

"What about Transylvania and the children? Are they ok?" I asked worry lacing my voice.

"The planet is safe, for now. As for the children, they're back with their families and going about their normal way of Transylvanian life." He assured me.

I let out a sigh of relief and let my eyes rest on the monitor to my left. It made a soft humming noise and consisted of intricate green glowing circles. I stared at the symbols in awe wondering what they stood for.

The Doctor followed my line of vision and smiled sadly. "It's Gallifreyan. The ancient language of the Time Lords."

"It's beautiful."

The Doctor stood up from the bed. "You should get some rest. If you're feeling better tomorrow we'll go to a much quieter planet."

"Doctor."

He stopped at the door and turned around eyeing me expectantly.

"You never told me about Gallifrey."

A forlorn expression crossed The Doctor's features. He looked down at his feet before looking back up at me a hurt smile tugging at his lips.

"You would have loved it, Claire. Red orange skies and sliver leaves decorating the trees. One of the most beautiful planets these old eyes have seen."

"We can't go there can we?" I asked.

He shook his head with a sad smile.

"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

The Doctor fell quiet for a moment.

"You don't have to answer! I'm sorry I never should've asked you." I said quickly, regretting that I brought up an obviously touchy subject.

"No, it's ok." The Doctor moved back to the bed and settled on the edge of it again. "There was a war. The Time War. I'm the last of my kind, the last of the Time Lords. I had to burn my planet because an evil race called the Daleks were invading. There was nothing I could do to save my people."

"I'm sorry." I whispered reaching a hand out, softly resting it on top of The Doctor's.

He smiled slightly and brought my hand to his lips, kissing it softly. I felt my heart jolt suddenly and a blush heated up my cheeks. I averted my eyes quickly and stared back at the monitor.

"Rest." The Doctor said leaving the room.

~

My eyes fluttered open revealing the pale walls of the TARDIS Medical Bay. I sat up, feeling a lot better than the day before. I had a slight headache and my side was sore, but other than that I was ok.

I scanned the room for The Doctor, but he was nowhere to be found. I considered calling for him, but decided against it. _He probably wouldn't be able to hear me anyways. Who knows how big this ship really is…_ I swung my legs over the bed, steadying myself as I carefully stood up. I wobbled a little, but soon caught my balance. Once I was sure I would be able to walk about with no trouble I set off to find The Doctor.

In the hallway outside the Medical Bay were several other doors and corridors, leaving me feeling completely lost and unsure of which path to take. I looked to the corridor on the left and felt an urge to follow it. I started heading down the corridor and the TARDIS hummed in response, almost as if it were guiding me to where I needed to go, but that wasn't possible… was it? This was a ship certainly it couldn't be alive…

After a few short minutes of following the long corridor, passing other doors and passageways along the way I soon ended up in the console room. I walked up to the console and scanned the room, still no sign of The Doctor.

"Doctor?" I called out.

"Down here!"

I looked down and saw a whole other level through the glass floor that I hadn't noticed before. I bounded down the stairs and met up with him. He was seated on a swing fiddling with a couple of loose wires above his head, a pair of ridiculous looking goggles covered his eyes causing me to chuckle slightly.

The Doctor looked up at me in confusion. "What's so funny?"

I quickly bit back my laughter. "Nothing."

He shrugged it off and continued on with his work. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, I am. Thank you." I sat down on one of the steps and watched him work.

He took the goggles off and grinned like the Cheshire cat from _Alice in Wonderland._ "Great! Where to next?"

"Actually can you take me home?" I asked shyly.

Immediately the Doctor's face fell. "Yes, I'll bring you home. I understand. The adventures I take people on do tend to be dangerous a good majority of the time, even though most of the time I don't plan on it. I don't blame you for wanting to leave really, you'll probably be much safer back in Salem." The Doctor passed me on the steps and stepped up to the console, plugging the coordinates in for Salem.

I ran up to him and placed my hand on his shoulder causing him to stop what he was doing and look at me. "I didn't want to leave you, I just needed to pick up a few things back home and let my friends know that I'll be gone for a while so they don't worry about me, as well as settle a few things with my school so I can travel. But if you want me to leave I will."

The Doctor quickly pulled me into a warm hug. "Of course I want you to stay. I was afraid you wanted to leave because you got injured." He mumbled into my shoulder.

I laughed lightly. "It's going to take much more than that to get rid of me."

The Doctor pulled away and smiled. "To Salem?"

"To Salem."

The TARDIS doors opened allowing The Doctor and I to step out into the street where my apartment was. The sun was out causing it to be warmer than I last remembered, the leaves were changing color and a light breeze blew the ones that had already fallen about.

"Uh… Doctor, you said you would get me back a few minutes later. Its mid afternoon." I observed scrunching my nose slightly.

"Oops, must have time jumped a little. Doesn't seem like it was too long. Once I promised a little girl that I would be back in five minutes, and didn't come back until 14 years later; poor little Amelia Pond, the girl who waited. Trust me it could've been a lot worse."

We walked up to the door and I tried the door handle. It was unlocked. Which was strange because Molly usually had class at this time. We walked in only to find Molly, Danae, and Maia sitting on the couch rifling through a pile of papers on the coffee table. When we walked in their heads perked up and they all stared at me like I had two heads.

"Hey guys… why are you staring at me like that?" I asked confused.

Maia suddenly jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug. "I am so sorry I snapped at you. All of this time I thought you were gone because I yelled at you. Please say you'll forgive me." She sobbed into my shoulder.

I stroked her hair in an attempt to calm her down and side glanced at The Doctor, who was suddenly very interested in fixing his jacket sleeves. "How long were we gone?" I asked.

"A year." Danae answered getting up from her seat, Molly following suit.

"A year?" I asked in disbelief. I let go of Maia and turned to The Doctor. "We were gone a year?"

The Doctor pulled at his bow tie in discomfort. "Oops."

"We were beginning to think you were dead. You're family's been worried sick, sending search parties out to find you." Molly scolded. "Where the hell were you and why didn't you call us?"

I gulped and pulled the Doctor aside. "What do I tell them?" I asked in a whisper. "I can't just say that I met an alien, ran away with him to go visit other planets and time periods only to have him accidentally time jump so we came back a year later without even realizing it!"

The Doctor winced. "Let me handle this. I've gotten myself out of many tight situations similar to this."

I rolled my eyes. "Good luck." I muttered turning back to my friends who stared at us impatiently.

The Doctor spun around to face my friends and flashed them a smile. "Hello, I'm The Doctor. I'm a good friend of Claire's. We ran into each other last year on Halloween and she seemed pretty upset so I decided to take her travelling with me. I'm a traveler and I thought a change of scenery would cheer her up. I guess we lost track of time. Sorry about that, won't happen again."

I face palmed, knowing there was absolutely no way they were going to buy that.

Molly smiled sweetly. "Interesting story, especially since it seems so out of character for Claire. See Claire would never leave without informing her family and friends first. She would also plan something like this, months in advance and settle things with the school first. She is not the type to just take off out of the blue without any sort of notice. Now can you please tell us the real story, before I decide to call the police and tell them that you kidnapped my friend?"

The Doctor gulped and I rubbed my temples in frustration. "Can I just tell them the truth?"

"The truth would be nice." Molly said sarcastically.

I glanced at the Doctor, telepathically asking him permission to tell my friends the truth about him and what had happened. He sighed and nodded in my friends’ direction before crossing his arms against his chest.

"Ok you guys probably won't believe me and quite frankly I won't blame you." I inhaled and exhaled slowly before telling them my very unbelievable story.

"So he's an alien?" Danae asked in disbelief.

"Time Lord." The Doctor corrected.

"You're not going to probe us or anything are you?" Maia asked.

I face palmed, wishing we never stumbled upon my friends.

The Doctor shrugged casually. "I could if you wanted me to."

My friends immediately burst into a fit of giggles while I gasped in horror and whacked him on the shoulder.

"Oi, what I do now?" He asked rubbing his shoulder.

"That was inappropriate."

"What was inappropriate?" The Doctor asked clearly confused. I glared at him causing him to finally get the message. "Oh my stars, I am so, so sorry." He quickly apologized a blush tainting his cheeks.

"You guys remind me of an old married couple." Maia laughed. "Are you sure you aren't dating?"

I felt a blush rising on my cheeks as I glared at her.

"No, no, no, we're not." The Doctor quickly stammered out.

Maia threw us a knowing smirk before dropping the subject.

"Wait you said you had a box that was bigger on the inside and could travel in both space and time?" Molly asked not believing the story she just heard.

"Yup." The Doctor stated proudly straitening his bow tie. _Oh great they're fueling his ego…_

"How is that even possible?"

The Doctor smirked. "There are many possibilities out there."

"You said you were an alien correct?" Danae asked.

"Time Lord."

"Right Time Lord, how come you speak with a British accent?" She asked curiously. I turned to him curious as to why that was as well.

The Doctor shrugged. "Why not?"

_Real straight forward…_

The Doctor clapped his hands together suddenly. "Alright Claire settle whatever it was you needed to settle and then we're off."

"Wait, you're leaving again?" Danae asked.

"Just for a little while. I'll come back." I assured.

"And who knows how much longer that's going to be." Molly said crossing her arms against her chest.

"Listen guys, something amazing has happened to me and I'm not going to sit around here wondering if I'll get a job after college or if I'll be able to support myself later on in life. I've been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience what's beyond the world we know and I am not going to blow that chance." I stated before storming up to my bedroom to pack what I needed.

Once I was all packed I trudged down the stairs, duffel bag and art portfolio in hand. The Doctor met me at the bottom of the staircase. "Are you sure you want to come with me?"

I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. "You don't want me to come do you?"

"No, no, no, it's just that you have so much here. You have a family and friends who care deeply about you. I don't want to take you from them."

I averted my eyes from his suddenly feeling very shy to look back up at him. "When I'm around you…" My voice shook slightly from nerves, I never was good at speaking my mind, let alone my feelings. "When I'm around you I open up more. I can speak my mind more freely and I'm not afraid of what others will think when I'm with you. I don't know why, but I feel like I can easily be myself around you. I know I just met you, but there's something about you that makes me feel more at ease. I'm sorry that probably sounded really cheesy."

The Doctor stared at me for a moment before pulling me into a hug. "I'm proud of you." He whispered in my ear before pulling away and holding his hand out to me. "Cellphone, hand it over."

I raised an eyebrow before dropping the duffel bag to reach for my cellphone in my pocket. "Why do you want my cellphone?"

The Doctor snatched the phone from my hand and started scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. "Just a simple upgrade so you can reach anyone from anywhere from any planet. Pretty much the best service in the universe." He explained before handing my cell phone back once it was done.

"Why would you do that?" I asked softly.

"So this way you can contact you're family and friends at any time and they an do the same for you. I want to take you with me, but I don't want to separate you from your home. Ugh, old age is definitely making me more selfish."

I laughed. "Thank you." I paused for a second. "You're constantly referring to yourself as old. How old are you, exactly? Not to be rude. I was just wondering."

The Doctor smiled lightly. "I'm about 1100 years old now. If I can remember correctly that is." He shrugged.

"Wow. Well you certainly don't look your age." I laughed.

The Doctor joined in my laughter for a moment before getting serious again. "One more thing." The Doctor said taking my hand in his. He held my palm face up and placed a tiny silver key in it. "You're very own key to the TARDIS." He whispered before folding my fingers over it with his own.

I smiled shyly up at him and examined the tiny silver key in my hands, it felt cool to the touch and seemed to hum with life. _The key to possibilities…_

The Doctor threw my duffel bag over his shoulder and we headed back into the living room where my friends were waiting.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long and I promise that I won't be gone for that long again. You guys can call me whenever you want and I'll call you whenever I can as well." I said praying they would understand.

Danae was the first to walk up to me and give me a hug. "Go out there and enjoy yourself, just try not to get yourself killed ok?"

"I promise." I said pulling away.

Maia then wrapped me in another bone crushing hug. "Show those aliens what you got girl, oh and make sure you keep an eye on that particular one over there." She said nodding in the Doctor's direction. "I sense a future romance kindling with that one. Trust me he seems like the perfect match for you.

I pulled away from her blushing deeply. "I doubt that's going to happen."

Maia smirked "I don't know, you'll be surprised at what might happen."

I shook my head at her before turning to Molly.

"Sorry for the way I acted. I'm just surprised that you're actually doing this, but then again I'm glad that you are. It's about time you break out of that shell of yours and show the universe what you can do. Kick some alien ass." She said hugging me.

I laughed before pulling away. "Don't worry I will."

"Come on Claire, we have planets to explore." The Doctor called impatiently.

"He needs to learn how to wait." I groaned before heading out the door.

"Where are we headed?" I asked stepping into the TARDIS.

"I actually have a few friends I need to pick up. I might have left them a bit too long. Let's hope Amy's not too mad at me. Oh wait till you meet the Ponds! I'm sure you'll get along swimmingly!" The Doctor rambled.

"Swimmingly?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, swimmingly. I like that word. Swimmingly is cool."

I laughed and gestured to my bag and portfolio. "Uh, where should I put these?"

"Oh, the TARDIS prepared a room for you. She's telepathic so she can create the perfect room for you."

"Ok, cool. Umm where do I go?"

"Up that staircase, down the hall and it's the first room on the left. You're name should be engraved in the door."

"Ooh fancy. Be right back." I followed the Doctor's directions and came across a wooden door with my name scrawled out in a delicate script. Underneath were the same Gallifreyan symbols from the monitors in the Medical Bay.

I opened the door and gasped. The room was absolutely stunning. The walls were painted a light silvery color and the flooring was covered with a dark grey-purple carpet. In the center of the room was a queen-sized bed with a light purple bedspread with black and silver roses embroidered along the ends of the fabric. The bed had too many pillows than I knew what to deal with along with a black headboard that was carved into intricate swirls with white Christmas lights weaved into it. Off to the side was a walk in closet filled with too many clothes to wear in one lifetime. I even had my own bathroom with a bathtub and shower.

Once I had settled in, I changed into a pair of light blue jeans and a sea foam green long sleeved sweater, with sea foam green converse to match. Once I was finished dressing I ran back to the console room. I spotted the Doctor fiddling with a few controls. I quickly ran up to him and pounced on his back.

"Thank you so much! I never expected a room like that."

The Doctor laughed. "Don't thank me, thank the TARDIS."

"Thank you TARDIS!"

"Call her Sexy."

"Thank you Sexy!" I called out and the Doctor and I fell into a fit of laughter as the TARDIS hummed happily in response.

"Ready to meet the Ponds?"

"To the Ponds!"

And with that we took off to collect the Ponds.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC. **

We landed in a children’s playground in England, the strange part was that there were hundreds if not thousands of small black cubes all over the playground, the road and across the street. According to the news on my phone they had gone global.

The Doctor perched himself up in a climbing frame examining one of the boxes.

“What’s with the cubes?” I called up to him.

“I have absolutely no idea.” He answered turning the cube over and over in his hands.

“Doctor!”

The Doctor and I looked behind us where three people were staring at us from across the street. Two were male; one of them appeared to be middle aged while the other was probably in his late 20’s early 30’s same as the red headed woman who stood next to him, obviously the one who called out to the Doctor. All three of them were dressed in morning attire.

“Invasion of the very small cubes. That’s new.” The Doctor called back.

 

~

 

“Amy, Rory, Brian, I’d like you to meet Claire the newest edition to the TARDIS.” The Doctor announced, patting me lightly on the head.

“Hi.” I said shyly giving them a tiny wave. The Ponds smiled back and introduced themselves. After our brief introductions, the Doctor lead us back to the TARDIS.

“So how do you like traveling with the Doctor?” Amy asked falling into step with me.

“It’s fun. Dangerous, but fun.” I said.

Amy laughed. “The running is always the best.”

I nodded joining in her laughter.

“Oi, Pond! Quit poisoning Claire’s innocent mind and get in the TARDIS!” The Doctor called from.

“I am not poisoning her mind. I’m having a normal conversation with her. I finally have another girl on the ship and here you are getting jealous of me spending time with her.” Amy yelled back as we made our way into the TARDIS.

“I am not jealous.” The Doctor mumbled before picking up a cube and examining it with a magnifying glass. “Their all absolutely identical. Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities.”

“What if they’re bombs? Billions of tiny bombs? Or transport capsules maybe, with a mini robot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs? Or messages needing decoding.  Or they’re all parts of a bigger whole. Jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together.” Brian suggested.

“Very thorough, Brian. Very, very thorough. Well done. Stay here.” The Doctor said stacking a cube on top of the cube Brian was currently holding. “Watch these. Yell if anything happens.”

The Doctor, Amy, Rory and I started putting together boxes of different items and carrying them out of the TARDIS.

“Doctor, is this an alien invasion? Because that’s what it feels like.” Amy asked.

“There couldn’t be life forms in every cube could there?” Rory asked.

The Doctor turned around and faced the three of us. “I don’t know. And I really don’t like not knowing.”

We carried the boxes into the kitchen and sat them all down on the kitchen table.

“Right, I need to use you’re kitchen as a lab. Cook up some cubes. See what happens.” The Doctor said flipping on the sink.

“Right, I’m due at work.” Rory said.

The Doctor turned around in disbelief. “What you’ve got a job?”

“Of course I’ve got a job. What do you think we do when we’re not with you?”

The Doctor shrugged. “I imagine mostly kissing.”

Rory rolled his eyes and I tried stifling a laugh behind my hand.

“I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick.” Amy informed us.

“My shift starts in an hour. You don’t know where my scrubs are?” Rory asked Amy.

“In the lounge, where you left them.”

I side glanced at the Doctor and saw him look at Amy with a sort of disgusted look on his face while she glared back at him. _Awkward…_

I set to work on placing a few cubes in the now boiling water like the Doctor instructed while Amy and the Doctor spoke quietly to one another.

All of a sudden the front door smashed down and soldiers dressed head to toe in black bullet proof suits came barging in with guns pointed at us. The Doctor quickly moved to where I was standing and pulled me behind him.

“Clear trap one, kitchen secured.” One of the soldiers called out.

“Trap three, back garden secured.” Another one called back.

The Doctor, Amy and I shared a confused glance as Rory suddenly came walking into the room, weaving through the soldiers with his hands up.

“There are soldiers all over my house, and I’m in my pants.” Rory said gesturing to his underwear.

I quickly stifled a laugh and averted my eyes as the Doctor laughed examining Rory’s rather comical underwear.

“My whole life I’ve dreamt of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else.” Amy muttered.

A blonde woman then came weaving in through the crowd of soldiers. “All of these muscles, and they still don’t know how to knock. Sorry about the raucous entrance.” The woman apologized. “Spike in Arton energy reading at this address. In the light of the last twenty-four hours, we had to check it out, and the dogs do love a run out. Hello. Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at UNIT.” The woman introduced herself. She suddenly noticed the Doctor. “And with a dress sense like that…” She pulled out a mini scanner and placed it over the Doctor’s chest. She pulled it away. Satisfied with the results. “You must be the Doctor. I hoped it would be you.”

The Doctor saluted her before clapping his hands together. “Tell me, since when did science research run the military, Kate?”

“Since me. UNIT’s been adapting. Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which made it seem like more fun than it actually was.”

“What do we know about these cubes?” The Doctor asked.

“Far less than we need to.” Kate said pacing the room. “We’ve been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we’ve subjected them to temperatures of plus and minus two hundred degrees Celsius, simulate a water depth of five miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at ten thousand feet and rolled our best tank over it. Always intact.”

“That’s impressive.” The Doctor said. “I don’t want them to be impressive. I want them to be vulnerable with a nice Achilles heel.”

“We don’t know how they got here, what they’re made of, or why they’re here.”

“And all around the world people are picking them up.” The Doctor threw a cube in the air and caught it. “And taking them home.”

“Like iPad’s have dropped out of the sky. Taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within three hours, the cubes have had a thousand separate Twitter accounts.”

“Twitter?” The Doctor muttered in disgust and moved to the doorframe with his arms crossed.

“I’ve recommended we treat this as a hostile incursion. Gather them all up and lock them in a secure facility. But that would take massive international agreement and co-operation.”

“We need evidence.” The Doctor said approaching us. “The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose. So, what does that tell us?” He came up behind me and draped his arms across Amy and Rory’s shoulders and rested his chin on top of my head. I blushed, suddenly aware of just how warm he was as he pressed his body up against my back.

“Maybe they wanted to be seen. Noticed.” Amy offered.

“Or more than that, they want to be observed. So we observe them.” The Doctor said pulling away from us as he tossed a cube in the air. “Stay with them round the clock. Watch the cubes, day and night. Record absolutely everything about them. Team cube, in it together.” He said kissing a cube.

 

~

 

The Doctor insisted that we stay at the Pond’s in order to keep an eye on the cubes. I stayed in the guest bedroom while the Doctor stayed up all hours of the night keeping an eye on the cubes. I was beginning to wonder if he ever slept.

So far we’ve been staying with the Pond’s for four days. I had to admit that I really liked the Pond’s. Amy was quickly becoming a close friend and I’ve had a few good conversations with Rory whenever he was around. They were both very lovely people and you could definitely tell that the Doctor cared greatly for the couple.

The only downside of our stay with the Ponds was the Doctor. He was becoming quite irritable and was restless day in and day out.

The four of us were hanging out in the lounge keeping an eye on a pile of the cubes. The Doctor sat in between the Ponds on the sofa while I was curled up on an adjacent armchair a sketchpad and pencil in hand. The Doctor was hanging upside down on the sofa examining one of the cubes.

“Four days.” He said irritably. “Nothing! Nothing! Not a single change in any cube anywhere in the world.” He started smacking one of the cubes with his hand before slamming it back down on the coffee table and sitting upright. “Four days. And I’m still in your lounge!”

“You were the one who wanted to observe them.” Amy pointed out.

“Yes, well, I thought they’d do something, didn’t I? Not just sit there while everyone eats endless cereal!” He jumped up from the couch and began pacing around the room.

“You said we had to be patient.” Rory reminded him.

The Doctor spun around in annoyance. “Yes, you! You, not me! I hate being patient. Patience is for wimps.” He calmed down a little and plopped down on the sofa in between the Ponds. “I can’t live like this. Don’t make me. I need to be busy.”

“Fine! Be busy! We’ll watch the cubes.” Amy shouted and the Doctor ran out of the room.

“He sure does know how to act like an annoying two year old.” I muttered under my breath.

“Tell me about it.” Rory groaned shaking his head.

I glanced out the window and saw the Doctor mowing the lawn. He finished and turned to painting the fence. Twenty minutes passed and he was back inside with the vacuum cleaner. Amy, Rory, and I lifted our feet as he came zooming by with it and into the other room. A few minutes later we heard a few things breaking in the kitchen and the occasional ‘Oops, Don’t worry I’ll fix it.’ Ten minutes passed and he was back outside trying to fix the car, which didn’t need fixing. Amy and Rory shared annoyed glances while I watched the Doctor outside the window kicking a soccer ball up in the air.

Before we knew it the Doctor was back in the house and plopped down on the sofa.

“That’s better, nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time. How long was I gone?”

Rory glanced at his watch. “Err, about an hour.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I can’t do it. No. Come on, Claire.” He called as he ran into the TARDIS.

“Where are you going?” Amy called as we followed him into the TARDIS.

We walked into the TARDIS and saw Brian still staring at the cubes in the same spot we had left him in four days ago.

“Brian, you’re still here.” The Doctor asked surprised.

“You told me to watch the cubes.” He answered.

“Four days ago.”

“Ah! Doesn’t time fly when you’re alone with your thoughts?” Brian said in surprise.

“You can’t just leave, Doctor.” Rory protested.

“Yes, of course I can. Quick jaunt, restore sanity. Ooh, hey, come if you like.” He said draping his arms over the Pond’s shoulders.

“They can’t just go off like that.” Brian protested.

“Can’t they? Can’t you? That’s how it goes, isn’t it?”

“I’ve got my job.” Rory pointed out.

“Oh yes, Rory. The universe is awaiting and you’ve got a little job to do.” The Doctor said sarcastically.

Rory turned on him. “It’s not little. It’s important to me. Look, what you do isn’t all there is.”

The Doctor appeared hurt and took his arms off the couple before quietly answering back. “I never said it was.” He continued to stare at the pair, who were avoiding eye contact, before stepping away. “All right. Fine. Claire and I will be back soon. Monitor the cubes. Call me. I’ll have the TARDIS set to every Earth news feed.” The Doctor turned to the console and started punching in coordinates, a deep frown on his face.

I looked back to the Ponds who quietly walked out the door.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who and Sherlock characters belong to the BBC. **

The Doctor walked solemnly around the console, flipping random switches and buttons. The frown on his face continued to deepen as he manned the TARDIS.

“Doctor…” I started, but was cut off before I could finish my sentence.

“They’re going to stop.” He cut off grimly.

“What?”

“They’re thinking of stopping. The Ponds.” He said sourly.

“You don’t know that for sure.” I attempted to reassure him.

He shook his head causing his floppy brown hair to hide his eyes from view. I suddenly felt a strong urge to brush the fringe from his face, but I quickly pushed the thought aside. “They probably won’t keep up for much longer. I can tell they’re starting to tire of the adventures. They probably want to settle down and live a normal, married, human life.” He grumbled before locking in the coordinates and pulling the lever.

I didn’t have enough time to react to the sudden lurch the TARDIS made once she took off, knocking me off my feet in the process. Luckily I landed in the captain’s chair. I sunk into the chair in relief once the TARDIS started to fly more smoothly.

A faint beeping rang throughout the TARDIS, the Doctor pulled the screen into view and smiled slightly. “Claire, go put on some warm clothes and a pair of boots. We’re going to London!” He called, now jumping excitedly around the console punching in a new set of coordinates.

“Fine, just try not to lurch the TARDIS about this time.” I said getting up.

“Sorry about that.” He pouted slightly.

I giggled as I made my way to my room anxiously wondering what we were going to be doing in London.

 

~

 

I bounced back into the console room dressed in a fading dark purple sweater, gray skinny jeans and gray boots.

“So, what are we seeing in London?” I asked holding on to the railing as the Doctor landed the TARDIS.

“Visiting an old friend of mine.” The Doctor smiled. “I’m sure you’ve heard of him.”

“Well it couldn’t be the queen since you said it was a guy… I don’t know Daniel Radcliff?” I guessed.

“Daniel Radcliff? I wouldn’t take you to London to meet an actor!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know of that many Brits.” I huffed.

The Doctor snorted.

“What are you laughing at?”

The Doctor quickly fixed his composure and took me by the hand, leading me to the doors. “Nothing.”

“You’re laughing at me aren’t you?”

“No of course not.”

I raised me eyebrows at him and he crumbled slightly under my gaze before muttering a quick ‘sorry’.

We stepped out into a cold, dark, alleyway. The pavement was damp from a recent rain and a musty scent hung in the air.

The Doctor pulled a look of disgust. “Well this is pleasant.” He said sarcastically before grabbing my hand and locking the TARDIS behind him.

“So this is London…” I looked up and down the alleyway with caution. Something didn’t feel quite right.

“No, well actually yes. This is a dank, dark alleyway of London. Not very pleasing to the eye, but it is London.” He rambled glancing down at the psychic paper. I tried reading over his shoulder, but it was still blank. “Left on the alleyway, take a right down the corridor and out into the park. Meet me at the bench farthest from your left.” The Doctor read. He rolled his eyes and stuffed the psychic paper back into his pocket. “Never likes to be simple.” The Doctor grumbled.

We followed the instructions and walked into the park. On the designated bench sat a shadowy figure. I gripped the Doctor’s hand tighter, but relaxed slightly when he rubbed my hand lightly with his thumb in reassurance.

We approached the bench and the figure stood. As we got closer I was able to make out his features. He was a very tall, thin man, clad in a long dark trench coat with a navy scarf wrapped around his neck. He seemed like he was in his thirties with pale white skin, icy blue eyes and curly black hair.

“Did the ginger with her pointy nosed husband decide to give up?” The mysterious man asked in a low monotone voice.

The Doctor sighed heavily. “Not yet. But they’re considering it. It’ll most likely happen soon.”

The man nodded and settled his icy blue gaze on me. I fidgeted uncomfortably not liking the sudden attention I was receiving.

“Ah, Claire this is an old friend of mine Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock this is Claire, she’s-“ The Doctor didn’t get a chance to finish for Sherlock had cut him off.

“She’s your companion. She’s just recently started traveling with you, I’ll say maybe a day or so, but from the way she’s practically clinging to you, she feels she’s known you for years. Which is unusual for her since she’s usually not so quick to trust people due to a history with anxiety, but she’s completely at ease when in your presence. She’s rather shy due to the fact that she’s standing slightly behind you and I’m guessing she’s American. Perhaps from New England? She’s an artist due to the state of her hands, but none of those reasons are why you chose her to travel with you.”

“Sherlock.” The Doctor warned.

“There’s something different about her.”

“SHERLOCK!” The Doctor raised his voice taking me completely off guard.

Sherlock stared at him in bemusement. “My apologies.” He outstretched his hand to me. I shook it warily with my free hand.

“How… did you know about all of that?” I asked in amazement.

“Trust me. His explanation will make your head hurt.” The Doctor mumbled in my ear.

“So why am I really here Sherlock? Need another cover up for your fake suicide?” The Doctor joked.

Sherlock shot him a glare. “No. I need your help with a case.”

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in interest. “Well, that’s new.”

“There’s been multiple disappearing’s happening over the course of the last couple of weeks. All of them are young women with similar appearances. I assume who ever is doing this is looking for someone. Yet, they have all been found again, but they have aged tremendously with their necks snapped.”

“And why exactly do you need my help?” The Doctor asked cautiously.

“Witnesses claim that before they had gone missing a stone statue of an angel was present. These same statues were present for all of the woman who had gone missing and later returned fully aged with their necks snapped.”

A dark expression crossed the Doctor’s features. “Weeping Angels.” The Doctor muttered in annoyance.

“So you can help then?” Sherlock asked hopefully.

“I’m the only one who can.”

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who and Sherlock characters belong to the BBC. **

Sherlock led the three of us to a small run down apartment that was located in the same alleyway where the TARDIS was parked. On the living room wall was a display of evidence for the case Sherlock wanted us to help him crack. The evidence ranged from newspaper clippings, printed out news articles from websites, pictures of the victims and pictures of stone statues. I stepped closer to the wall, intrigued by a photo of a stone angel statue covering its face with its hands. I couldn’t tell if it was crying or hiding.

“The weeping angels.” The Doctor spoke suddenly causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. “One of the most dangerous creatures in the universe and yet the only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely.”

I gulped. “Um… kill nicely?” I asked my voice wavering slightly.

“If touched by an angel, they’ll simply send you off into the past and feed off of the potential energy from the years you might’ve lived.”

“Fascinating.” Sherlock muttered under his breath. “What else is there?”

The Doctor shot him a look before continuing. “When seen, an angel is stone, the second you take your eyes off them, they’ll move. And they are fast, faster than you’ll ever believe. Whatever you do, do not blink. Blink and you’re dead.”

A cold chill ran down my spine causing me to shiver slightly. I quickly shook it off and examined the photos of the victims. They were all young; probably in their early twenties. All seven of them were female with similar appearances, long curly dark brown hair with brown eyes. A small tug of anxiety started poking at me indicating that something was wrong.

“The victims were all randomly selected across the world.” Sherlock started. “Bella Porcello; found in Sardinia, Italy. She went missing after going on a walk. She was found completely aged and her neck snapped. The only evidence of the angel was a sketch of it in a notebook she was holding.” He said pointing to one of the pictures.

 “The second was found in Seymour, Connecticut in the United States. Her name was Sarah Baker, her body was found in a graveyard near a stone statue of an angel weeping. She was also completely aged and her neck was snapped. There was also traces of charcoal on her hands indicating that she was an artist as well.” Sherlock continued to point out the various victims. All brunettes. All in their early twenties. All artists. My blood ran cold and my palms turned clammy; anxiety was beginning to take its tool on me. I took in a deep breath trying to calm myself hoping that it was all just a coincidence, but I knew deep down that it wasn’t. These weeping angels were looking for me.

The Doctor and Sherlock both glanced at me. Sherlock’s cool and calculating; the Doctor’s unreadable. I turned to face the pair.

“They’re looking for me aren’t they?” I asked shakily.

There was an uncomfortable silence before Sherlock decided to break it.

“Yes.” He stated bluntly.

“Sherlock really?” The Doctor scolded. He rushed over to me and wrapped me up in his arms. “No, Claire they’re not looking for you. Well…yes… yes they are… I lied… but I will find out why and I will stop them.” The Doctor ranted while trying to comfort me. He rubbed small circles into my back frantically before pulling away. He cupped my face in his hands and looked deeply into my eyes. “I will not let them hurt you.” He whispered before kissing my forehead. My heart fluttered slightly taking me completely off guard.

Suddenly someone’s phone went off. The Doctor pulled away from me and watched as Sherlock read a text message.

“Another one.” He muttered, quickly heading for the door.

“Wait what?” I asked as the Doctor and I followed after him.

We met up with Sherlock outside where he hailed a cab. Sherlock turned towards us before getting in the cab. “There was another attack. The address is 32 Oak Street. Get the next cab.” And with that Sherlock slammed the cab door shut and sped off.

The Doctor and I shared a glance before hailing another cab. Unlike Sherlock we had a hard time getting a cab to stop, leaving the Doctor running up and down the sidewalk yelling at those who kept driving past us. We were about to give up and just take the TARDIS when a cab finally stopped for us.

“Thank you!” The Doctor cried gratefully sliding into the cab after me. The Doctor gave the cabbie the directions and we were off. I watched the scenery of London at night flash before my eyes as the Doctor rambled on about some sort of planet dedicated to bananas. There wasn’t much to look at because it was nighttime, but the streetlights made it possible to see some of the city. We came to a halt at a stoplight just outside of a small park. Slightly hidden behind the gate of the park I noticed a figure. I couldn’t quite make out what it was though. I looked away for a second and settled my eyes back on the gate only to nearly jump out of my skin at the sight of an angel statue peeking out from behind the gate. It was pointing at me.

“Doctor.” I gasped interrupting his rant on bananas and potassium.

“What’s wrong?” He asked peering out the window with me just as the cab started to drive away.

“There was one over there by the park gate.” I explained.

The Doctor turned around in the cab and tried to look back at the gate. “There’s nothing there.” He confirmed.

I looked back and the statue was gone.

 

~

 

Finally we arrived at a ballet studio that was surrounded by cop cars and yellow crime tape crossing off the building. We spotted Sherlock a few feet away examining a body on the ground just outside the building’s entrance. I felt fear start to eat at me at the sight of the lifeless old woman. Tears started to prickle at my eyes when I realized that I could very well be next if these statues really were after me. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders.

Looking up I stared into the worried eyes of the Doctor. “You don’t have to go over.” He reassured me, pulling me in close.

I rested me head on his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. The steady rhythm of his two beating hearts started to calm me down. I sighed slightly and let my eyes close for a minute.

I didn’t keep track of how long we stood like that, but I knew a good couple of minutes must have passed because the Doctor let go of me and went to go speak with Sherlock. I watched the two talk quietly together a few feet away. I could only make out a couple of words, “artist”, “same appearance”, “broken neck” and “old age”. It was enough to know that I was definitely in trouble.

I turned away from the sight not wanting to hear any more details or accidentally see the victim. I watched the cars race by across the street and tried to calm myself again. I was beginning to think that I was calm enough to go back to the Doctor and Sherlock, but something caught my eye once again, making my blood run cold.

“DOCTOR!” I screamed making sure not to take my eyes off the stone statue across the street. However, the cars kept whizzing by it causing my vision to become obstructed making the angel creep closer every time a car passed.

The Doctor and Sherlock were immediately by my side, but once again it was too late. The angel was gone.

“Claire, what’s the matter?” The Doctor asked taking his sonic screwdriver out.

“There was another one, but it vanished again before you came.” I explained. “I tried to keep my eyes on it, but the cars kept disrupting my vision.”

“Its still out there.” Sherlock exclaimed staring towards the spot where the angel once stood. He spun around suddenly and stared right at me. “They’re after you for some reason aren’t they.” He took a few steps closer to me. “I don’t understand what do these creatures want with a young artist?”

The Doctor wrapped an arm protectively around my shoulder. “Sherlock, please this is not the time.”

Sherlock stared back with a scrutinizing gaze. “There’s nothing left here. Back to the flat.” With that he hailed a cab and ushered us inside.

During the ride back to the flat, I started to feel tired, a small yawn escaped my lips drawing the attention of the Doctor sitting beside me.

“You should rest I forgot how much sleep humans need.”

I smiled sleepily and rested my head on his shoulder letting sleep claim me.

 

 

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who and Sherlock characters belong to the BBC. **

A loud yawn escaped my lips as I stretched out my limbs. Settling back into the pillows I sighed in content. _Wait, pillows?_ I opened my eyes and noticed that I was in my bed in the TARDIS. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and gazed around the room. _I thought I was in a cab with the Doctor and Sherlock._ My gaze settled on a small vase with a single red rose in it along with a handwritten note, a plate of biscuits and a glass of water resting on my bedside table.

Reaching over and I grabbed the note off the stand, it read:

_Claire,_

_I hope you slept well last night. You fell asleep in the cab; I didn’t want to wake you so I carried you back to your bed in the TARDIS. If you’re hungry I left out some biscuits for you. If need be, the TARDIS can guide you to the kitchen. I’m with Sherlock investigating weeping angel stuff. I’ll be back later. Feel free to check out the library, the pool, the arcade room, the trampoline room, etc. Just have the TARDIS lead you there; I don’t want you to get lost._

_The Doctor_

_PS: Please stay in the TARDIS!!!!!_

I placed the letter back down on the table and climbed out of bed. I sniffed the rose inhaling its sweet scent before taking a biscuit and nibbling on it. I looked around my room sadly. Without the Doctor running about, it felt lonely. Deciding to get washed up I headed for the bathroom and took a nice hot shower. After showering and taking care of the usual routine of brushing teeth, brushing hair, spraying body spray, etc. I went to the closet to select my outfit for the day.

I chose a simple red and black-checkered button up shirt with a pair of ripped black skinny jeans. I concluded my outfit with a pair of black plat-formed converse, a black feather necklace, and a black serpent ring. I pulled my hair back into a high ponytail and headed for the console room of the TARDIS.

I ran my fingers along the side of the console earning a soft hum from the TARDIS. Smiling back at her I continued to admire all of the different buttons, controls, and levers. Every time I looked around this place I couldn’t believe that I was actually aboard such an amazing ship with an equally amazing man. I shook the thought out of my head. Yes, the Doctor was amazing, but it seemed like whenever I was around him a warm fuzzy feeling would fill me along with a small spark of adrenaline. _Claire, you just met him a few days ago. Don’t start developing feelings for someone you just met. No, mushy feelings! It’s probably just all of the dangerously fun places he’s been taking you to lately. Not feelings of attraction._

My thoughts were interrupted suddenly by my cell phone ringing. Surprised I pulled the cellular device out of my pocket and read the caller ID: Home. My heart skipped a beat. _Oh god._ I knew this would happen eventually, I just wasn’t expecting it so soon. _How am I going to explain myself? Why haven’t I thought this through yet?_ Knowing that I was going to have to talk to them eventually, I decided to just get it over with and wing it.

“Hello.”

“Claire! Oh thank goodness you’re okay!” My mom practically screamed on the other line causing me to wince. Thankfully she lowered her voice back to normal afterwards. “Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick. You decide to make contact after what? A year! We thought you were dead!”

“I know. I am very truly sorry. I kept loosing track of time.” I half-lied.

“How could you lose track of a year?”

“School ended up not being enough for me so I dropped out and decided to travel the world.” This was true. I had called my college our first day with the Ponds, informing them that I was going to drop out. It all became official a few days afterwards. And I was traveling… just a bit more than the world…

“Well, that’s fine. It just would’ve been nice if you informed us.”

“I know. I really am sorry about that and I promise that I’ll come visit soon.”

The phone to the TARDIS started ringing.

“What’s that?”

“That’s just the other phone. Hang on.” I quickly put my mom on hold and answered the TARDIS phone. “Hello?”

“It’s Sherlock. I need you to come down to the ballet studio we were at yesterday.” He stated bluntly.

“But the Doctor told me that I have to stay in the TARDIS.” I argued.

“Yes, he did, but he’s changed his mind and we need you to come down here, now.”

I didn’t like the sound of this. “Why has something happened? Is the Doctor ok?”

“He’s fine he just asked me to call you down here.”

“Why didn’t he call himself?” I continued to argue.

“Because he’s busy. Now would you please hurry up? There’s a cab waiting for you outside.” With that he hung up.

I hung up the phone and peeked outside. There was indeed a cab waiting there for me. I held a hand up letting the cab know that I’ll be right there before closing the door behind me. With a heavy sigh I picked up my cell phone.

“Hi mom, sorry, but I’m going to have to call you back.”

“But I’ve only just gotten a hold of you after a year. Surely you must want to talk to your mother?”

I sighed heavily into the phone. “Yes, I do, but I need to go help a friend. It’s important. I’ll call you back later.” I hung up the phone quickly knowing that I was going to hear the end of it later.

With that I stumbled out into the cold London air. I shivered slightly wishing I had brought a jacket with me. Quickly I made my way for the cab and before I knew it I was back at the ballet studio from last night.

The building was still crossed off with the yellow crime tape; the only thing that was different was that the body had been removed. A shiver ran up and down my spine causing me to tremble slightly. I shook it off and scanned the area for the Doctor and Sherlock. Neither of them were insight.

I didn’t like being here alone. Night was beginning to fall and a light fog was hanging close to the ground. _I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that phone call._ I scolded myself. Deciding to head back to the TARDIS I made my way back to the road only to stop short in my tracks.

A weeping angel stood only a few feet in front of me; if I blinked I was dead. I kept my eyes locked on its hair, feeling too creeped out to stare it directly in the face. Slowly, I started to back up without taking my eyes off the dangerous statue. My eyes were beginning to burn and it felt like an eternity until finally my back met with the door of the ballet studio behind me. I quickly fumbled around for the doorknob until finally my shaking fingers wrapped around the handle of the door. Relief swept over me and I quickly opened the door and backed into building without taking my eyes off the angel. Quickly I slammed the door shut and let out a sigh of relief as I let my burning eyes finally blink again.

My small moment of victory soon vanished when the doorknob started to shake violently. The angel was at the door. I was going to die. Faster than the blink of an eye the door swung open and the angel stood a few feet in front of me once again, this time a hand pointing directly at me. I held my breath trying to keep my burning eyes focused on the angel, but they betrayed me. I felt my body fill with dread at the realization that I was defeated. Tentatively I opened my eyes. The angel was still in front of me and I was still in the ballet studio. _The angel should have had me by now._ Confused I turned around and saw my reflection in the mirror along with the angel’s.

I let out a small laugh as realization dawned on me. The angel didn’t get me because it was seeing its own reflection leaving it imprisoned.

“Mirrors! Brilliant eh?” The Doctor exclaimed happily running into the room with Sherlock following close behind a cell phone in hand.

The Doctor ran up to me with arms outstretched for a hug, but once he was close enough to reach, I slapped him across the face. The Doctor stumbled back and rubbed his cheek in pain clearly stunned at what I had done.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again! You got it?” I shouted anger prickling at me.

The Doctor stared back at me hurt crossing his features. “I’m sorry. It was the only way we could defeat the weeping angels. I only did it to protect you.”

“Sorry for interrupting, but if you’d rather not get demolished I highly recommend getting out of here.” Sherlock interrupted as he walked swiftly towards the door.

With a sigh I headed towards the exit, the Doctor following close behind me. Outside a giant wrecking ball was waiting to demolish the site.

The three of us quickly stood a safe distance away and watched the ballet studio fall to pieces.

“The force of the wrecking ball and the wreckage should be enough to demolish the angel inside. Even a statue can be killed if you use the proper tools.” Sherlock stated with a smirk.

I sneaked a peek at the Doctor, the pained expression was still on his face even though he was trying to hide it. I knew I couldn’t stay mad at him forever there were too many good times we’d had together and I knew he was only trying to protect me.

Without any warning I wrapped my arms around the Doctor and buried my face in his chest. “I’m sorry I hit you.” I whispered, a tear slowly making its way down my cheek.

“It’s ok. I deserved it. I shouldn’t have scared you like that. I should’ve at least warned you or told you about my plan. I’m sorry.” He whispered into my hair as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Could you please do this in private. I’d rather not throw up my lunch.” Sherlock muttered.

The Doctor laughed whole heartedly as he let go of me and clapped a hand on Sherlock’s shoulder. “Good to see ya again mate. Let me know if you need any help again. Oh and before I forget.” The Doctor paused before lowering his voice slightly. “Make sure you let John know that you’re still alive. Put a stop to this silly game your playing. Enough is enough.”

Sherlock rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Doctor.” Sherlock turned his attention to me and kissed my hand. “Nice to meet you Claire.”

I blushed slightly. “Nice to meet you too.”

Something flashed in the Doctor’s eyes at his features turned grim. The Doctor quickly draped an arm around my shoulders and ushered me to a waiting taxi. Once we were settled, I turned to the Doctor. “Are you ok?” I asked. Not recognizing this new side of the Doctor.

The Doctor looked back at me. “What are you talking about? I’m fine. Just want to get back to the TARDIS that’s all. I miss my girl.” He said avoiding eye contact.

I stared back at him for a second before brushing it off. If I hadn’t known any better it would’ve seemed like the Doctor was jealous for a moment. But then again the Doctor didn’t seem like the jealous type. Besides there was no possible way he was jealous of Sherlock kissing my hand in farewell. Right?

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC. **

We had just returned to the TARDIS when my cell phone started going off again. I sighed heavily as I pulled the device out of my pocket and glanced at the caller ID. It was my mom again.

“Home calling?” The Doctor asked as he began flipping random switches on the console.

“Yes, can you please try to be quiet? I need to take this.” The Doctor nodded in agreement as I took a seat on the captains chair and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Claire, you know, you tell me that you’re going to call back and you never do.” My mom stated angrily on the other end of the line.

I winced. _Oh crap what day is it for her?_

“Sorry, lost track of time again.” I answered. I glanced at the Doctor who pulled a worried face. “What?” I mouthed to him. He waved me off and went to the lower level of the TARDIS. I watched him as he fiddled around with something through the glass floor as I tried to listen to my mom on the phone.

“It’s almost Christmas and I haven’t heard from you in a few months now.”

“Oh god, has it been that long? I am truly very, very sorry about that mom.” A loud crash rang throughout the TARDIS.

“What was that?” My mom asked on the other line.

“Oh, that was nothing I just dropped something.” I covered up quickly glaring at the Doctor as he mouthed apologies to me while trying to fix whatever he had just broken.

“Well, anyways we were hoping that we could see you for a change. We would really love it if you came home for Christmas.”

I paused not sure of what to say. “Oh Christmas!” I said loud enough for the Doctor to hear. His head perked up and he pointed at himself. “You want me to come home for Christmas and have dinner with you and the family. Umm…” I trailed off as I glanced at the Doctor who seemed to be having some sort of inner battle with himself. Finally nodded and gave me a thumb’s up sign when a medium sized metal thing fell on his head causing him to cry out in pain.

“Ouch!”

“Claire, what is going on over there?” My mom asked growing suspicious.

“Don’t worry my friend just dropped something on his head, he’s ok though.” I said quickly before mentally cursing myself.

“Did you say ‘he’? Oh my goodness! Claire, do you finally have a boyfriend?” She asked excitedly.

“No, no! He’s just a friend.” I said quickly turning away from the Doctor so he wouldn’t see me blushing. _Claire, get a hold of yourself!_ “Yes, I’ll be there for Christmas.” I said quickly changing the subject.

“Oh good! I can’t wait to see you again. I’ve missed you so much, same with everyone else in the family.”

“I missed you too.” I smiled sadly.

“I have a wonderful idea. Why don’t you ask your friend to come too? The more the merrier.” My mom suggested excitedly.

“Oh no, I don’t think he’ll want to come-” I started to protest before my phone was grabbed out of my hand. I turned around and felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach.

“Hello Mrs…” The Doctor paused and turned to me covering the phone with his hand. “Claire, what was your last name again?”

“Carlo.” I groaned.

“Ahh! Carlo! ‘Ello, Mrs. Carlo! Claire and I will definitely be there for Christmas dinner.” He spoke cheerily into the phone.

I face palmed wishing he would get off the phone before my mom said something embarrassing to him.

“Why yes, I do have a British accent! Oh thank you! You’re accent is quite lovely too. I’ve always loved visiting America. Well, except for the Lincoln assassination; that wasn’t a very pleasant time.”

“Ok, that’s enough.” I said grabbing the phone from his hands.

“Oi! I wasn’t finished talking!” The Doctor whined.

I walked away from him and held the phone back up to my ear. “Sorry, about that. He can be a bit weird sometimes.”

“Oh no, he seems nice.” My mom answered with a laugh. “See you for Christmas. Love you.”

“See you Christmas, love you too, bye.” I hung up and spun around to face the Doctor who was pouting at me. “What?”

“I was talking to your mum and you took the phone away.” He pouted.

I rolled my eyes. “You can talk to her and the rest of my family on Christmas.” I shrugged.

The Doctor clapped his hands together and smiled widely. “Well, this is exciting! I’ve only done Christmas dinner twice. Well in this body anyway.”

“You’ve only celebrated Christmas twice?” I asked feeling sympathy towards him.

“Oh, no. I’ve celebrated it many times before. My past regeneration however, didn’t do Christmas dinner. It wasn’t really his area. As for my most current form, I’ve done it once with the Ponds and once with a poor family in the 1900s.” He shrugged. “Besides, something always seems to be happening around the holidays. Some alien decides to take over. Usually London…. Don’t know why…”

“Well, we’ll just have to make sure this Christmas is a good one then.” I said with a smile. The Doctor returned the smile and wrapped me up in a hug. “Speaking of the Ponds… when are we going to go back?” I asked pulling away from him.

“We’ll pop back after Christmas. This time we’re going to stay with them for however long it will take with those bloody cubes.” He muttered.

“You’re going to behave this time?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, I’m going to behave.” He rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Now get ready. I’m skipping ahead to Christmas.”

With that I bounded down the hallway to my room to get ready for what was bound to be an eventful holiday.

 

~

 

“Ready?” I asked entering the console room dressed in a red blouse with a black sweater covering it, a pair of black flowered fishnets and a black skirt with red plaid covering one side. My hair was pulled half up half down with a red bow and a pair of low-heeled boots covered my feet. “Doctor?”

He wasn’t there. I checked under the glass floor expecting him to be working on something that didn’t need fixing, but he was still nowhere to be found.

“Doctor!” I called again this time a little louder.

“What are you shouting about?” The Doctor asked from above. “Did something happen? Are you ok?” He called, looking around in confusion. “Wait, where are you? Oh no, did you get stuck in the hydroscanner? I told you not to go near that. It could turn your skin blue if you stand in there for too long.”

“Doctor, I’m fine. I’m down here.” I laughed.

The Doctor looked down and a look of recognition flashed across his face. “Oh, there you are! What are you doing down there? We need to get to Salem, Claire. No more dilly dallying.”

I ran up the stairs meeting up with him by the console, stopping dead in my tracks when I laid eyes on him. “You changed your outfit. You never do that. I thought you only owned different bowties.” I said taking in his new outfit, consisting of a long dark purple tweed coat, a dark brown vest with a pocket watch attached to it and a dark brown bow tie with white polka dots decorating it.

“Don’t be silly. Of course, I have different outfits. I wear a different outfit everyday.” He argued.

“Doesn’t look like it.” I laughed. “But, no, I like this outfit. Looks very dapper.”

The Doctor straightened his bowtie. “Why thank you.” His eyes traveled up and down my body making me feel self-conscious. “And you’re… looking… very pretty…” He breathed out before quickly changing to his usual happy go lucky mood. “Right, Salem. Can’t keep the Carlo’s waiting much longer.”

I blushed and averted my eyes wishing that my heart would stop racing.

 

~

 

“Doctor, before we go in, what are we going to tell my family?” I asked. We had just stepped out of the warmth of the TARDIS and into the freezing winter air. Snow was just beginning to fall, decorating the darkened streets of Salem.

“We’ll just make it up as we go.” He shrugged as we strode up to the door.

“I’m not sure if winging it is going to turn out very well.” I argued.

“What are you talking about? Every time we’ve gotten ourselves into danger I always found a way to get us out.”

“Doctor, this is different.” I pressed. He formed an “o” with his lips in understanding.

At that moment the door swung open revealing my older brother Spencer. A huge grin swept over his handsome face as tears shone in his sparkling brown eyes. “Claire!” I was suddenly pulled into a massive bear hug. “I thought I’d never see you again.” He cried crushing me against him.

“I missed you too.” I mumbled into his chest. “Uh… Spencer?”

“What is it lil’ sis’?” He asked hugging me tighter. I thought for sure my ribs were going to break.

“I can’t breathe.” I gasped.

Spencer quickly let me go and noticed the Doctor. He kept his usual cheery smile, but I could sense him starting to act like the over protective big brother he was. “Hello, I’m Spencer. Claire’s older brother who always looks after her and will beat any one who tries to hurt her into a pulp.”

The Doctor gulped and looked around nervously.

“Spencer! Let them in already. We can’t let them freeze to death.” My grandmother called from inside the house.

Spencer led us into the small foyer of my grandparent’s house. The smells of food and pine needles mixed together filled my nostrils. As I remembered, the house was decorated with an assortment of family photos and Christmas decorations setting the mood for the holidays.

Before I could realize what was going on. My family poured into the crowded foyer showering me with hugs, kisses, and the occasional scolding for making them think I was dead.

The room was finally beginning to die down as everyone looked at me expectantly. I nervously gestured to the Doctor. “This is my friend-”

“I’m John Smith.” The Doctor cut off quickly. “But most people call me the Doctor.”

“Merry Christmas, Doctor.” My grandmother said with a warm smile before wrapping him up in a hug.

The Doctor’s eyes widened in surprise before returning the favor. A small smile graced my lips. _Maybe this won’t be so bad after all._

 

~

The Doctor and I were seated comfortably on the couch with Spencer and his wife Lexi, who was holding their four month old daughter Jenna and my older sister Ashlee whose hand rested gingerly on top of her swollen stomach.

“So when’s the baby due?” I asked her.

“February. I want you to be her godmother. If you’ll accept?”

“Of course.” I said with a smile.

We turned our attention to the Doctor who was cooing over little baby Jenna. Lexi and Spencer exchanged looks of pure happiness before Lexi offered the Doctor to hold the baby. He immediately obliged and took the tiny baby girl in his arms a huge smile gracing his face. Warmth filled my insides as I took in the scene before me.

“Keep an eye on that one, Claire. He’s definitely special.” Ashlee whispered to me.

I turned to her, shock written all over my face. “That’s the same thing Maia said to me the last time I saw her.”

Ashlee smirked her blue eyes twinkling with mischief.

“She talked to you didn’t she?” I asked already knowing the answer. We had grown up with Maia, Danae, and Molly. The five us had been the best of friends since I was three and Ashlee six. It was no surprise that Maia would share this information with my sister. Suddenly something dawned on me. _Maia didn’t tell Ashlee everything, did she?_ “Did Maia tell you… everything?” I asked nervously.

Ashlee smiled. “Yes, she did. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” She quickly looked around the room, making sure no one was listening in on our conversation. “So, what’s it like? Exploring space with an alien.” She asked in a low whisper.

“Amazing.” I grinned.

“Dinner’s ready.” My mom called from inside the kitchen.

 

** The Doctor’s POV **

 

I was seated comfortably on the couch in between Claire and her sister in law Lexi. Claire had moved farther down the couch to speak to her sister Ashlee who sat in an adjacent armchair. The two spoke in hushed tones exchanging smiles here and there. It was nice to see Claire back with her family. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest for keeping her away from them for so long.

I heard a small giggle besides me, disrupting my train of thought. Little baby Jenna looked up at me with sparkling hazel eyes. A smile graced my lips as I turned to the baby and her mother.

“Hello, Jenna.” I said softly. “No I don’t have mammary glands. You have your mother for that.”

Lexi let out a small chuckle. “What?”

“I speak baby.” I said casually.

She let out another quiet laugh before offering me to hold the small infant. I took her gingerly into my arms and made funny faces at her, making Jenna giggle softly. The scene reminded me a lot of Sophie, Craig and Alphie (Stormageddon Dark Lord of All). I made a mental note to bring Claire to meet the happy family once we settled everything with the Ponds and the cubes. I glanced around the room noticing a few of the little devils strewn about the living room decorated with lights or small Santa’s.

I gently handed Jenna back to her mother before quietly rising from the couch. I glanced at Claire. She was still talking to her sister, completely unaware that I had left the couch. Quietly, I exited the living room and walked out into the small foyer. I made my way down the hallway towards the kitchen, examining the family photos decorating the wall. A small smile graced my lips as I studied a picture of Ashlee and Spencer as toddlers holding a little baby Claire in their lap.

“Beautiful children.”

I jumped at the sudden company of Claire’s grandmother who stood beside me. She was a short woman with light gray hair pulled back into a messy bun decorated with a sparkling poinsettia.

“Yes.”

“You’re different aren’t you?” She asked suddenly, taking me completely off guard.

“We’re all different from one another.” I answered coolly.

“Yes, indeed we are. But _you’re_ different from us. Very different.”

“What do you mean, different?” I pressed.

Her old brown eyes met my own ancient ones with an intimidating stare. “You aren’t human. You’re a Time Lord.”

My eyes widened in surprise as a small smirk spread across the old woman’s lips. “H- how?”

“Quit blubbering.” She said with a hearty laugh. “I’ve always been able to sense when someone’s not human. You could call it a gift.”

“That’s remarkable, but how did you know what species I am?”

“Easy. I’ve met one before. Fifty years ago a young woman appeared at my doorstep looking for a home for her daughter. I was immediately able to sense that she wasn’t human, so I questioned her. She informed me of the war that was taking place on her home planet…. Oh what was it called?”

“Gallifrey.” I choked.

“Yes, Gallifrey. Well anyways I told her that I would love to take the poor girl in, but I was having enough trouble trying to feed my own children. My youngest was sick at the moment, poor Lea died that winter; the fever took her.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“No need to grieve over the past anymore. Anyways, I pointed the woman in the direction of the orphanage at the center of town. I’m not sure who adopted the child or where she is now, but I know that she’s out there somewhere. As for the woman, I never saw her again.”

“I didn’t expect you to.” I answered gravely.   
“Dinner’s ready!” Claire’s mother called from the kitchen.

 

** Claire’s POV **

 

I met up with the Doctor again in the dinning room, taking a seat beside him and my grandfather. My grandmother led grace before we settled down into our meal. A light chatter filled the room before Ashlee’s husband Richard cleared his throat rather loudly. I groaned inwardly afraid of what kind of subject the bastard was going to bring up.

“So Claire, I understand that you’ve been away for quite a while.” He started.

“Yes, I have. I’ve been traveling the world with the Doctor.” I answered coolly.

“Oh, and you abandoned your ‘studies’ to go exploring with a stranger. And I thought you wanted to attend art school. Clearly it didn’t tickle your fancy like you thought it would.” I opened my mouth to speak, but the jerk kept on going. “I knew you wouldn’t find a job in the art field. A complete waste of time and money.”

I slammed my hand down on the table in anger causing the room to fall silent. “I loved art school and I will still continue to pursue my art! I just happened to come across a once in a lifetime opportunity that I was not going to give up. And because I decided to follow that path, I ended up making life long friends as well as finding more confidence in myself. Now if you can’t seem to accept that then you can go fuck yourself, Dick, because it’s my life and I’m the one in charge of it.” With that I rose from the table and exited the room. Hot angry tears were streaming down my face as I grabbed for my coat and headed for the front door.

“Claire, wait.” I turned around and met a concerned Doctor standing in front of me.

I shook my head lightly before finally crumbling. The Doctor quickly wrapped me up in his strong arms, holding me close in a comforting embrace. “You were magnificent. You stood up for yourself, Claire. That’s what makes you stronger. Don’t let someone as low as him bring you down. I really hate to see you cry.” He whispered kissing my hair softly. Slowly I began to calm down. I opened my eyes, my vision slightly disoriented by tears. Once I had blinked away the fog I noticed my grandmother walk into the room. A small smile graced her lips.

I wiped away my tears and let go of the Doctor before turning to her. “I think we’re going to get going now. Tell everyone I said goodbye and that I’ll be back soon. I promise to keep in touch more often this time.”

“I know you will. Now go explore the universe with you’re Time Lord. Don’t lose him like I lost mine.” I hugged her tightly before the Doctor and I left the house without a word.

I felt bad about not saying goodbye to the rest of my family, but I couldn’t bring myself to be in the same room as my bastard brother in law. The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and guided my inside. Once the door was shut I turned to him.

“How did my grandmother know about you?” I asked curiously.

“She’s come in contact with a Time Lord before, well Time Lady, actually. She said that the Time Lady’s child is still out there. She was brought to an orphanage fifty years ago and she hasn’t heard about her since.”

“So there are other’s out there! You’re not the last of your kind!” I wrapped the Doctor in yet another warm hug.

The Doctor kissed the top of my head again before pulling away. “You should get some sleep. You humans require more rest than I do.”

“Goodnight.” I said with a smile before leaving the room.

“Goodnight.” The Doctor called back, before turning to the monitor and began typing furiously on the keys.

 


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

“Claire are you ready yet?” The Doctor called waltzing into my room without permission.

I let out a shriek of surprise as I quickly covered my chest with the tank top I was about to change into.

“Doctor! What did I tell you about coming in without knocking.” My face was burning hot from embarrassment as my heart beat rapidly against my chest.

“Sorry!” He quickly covered his eyes with his hand and attempted to find the door with his eyes covered causing him to bump into several things before finally finding the exit.

A small chuckle escaped my lips as I continued to get changed for the day. The Doctor and I were headed back to the Ponds today. The Doctor wanted to surprise Amy so we decided to skip ahead to their wedding anniversary in June. Once dressed in a dark green tank top and a pair of jean shorts with black lace decorating the trim, I met the Doctor in the console room.

“You think she’ll like these?” The Doctor asked holding up an enormous bouquet of flowers.

“Wow, I’m sure she’ll love them.” I said with a smile. A small spark of jealousy itched at me for not being the one receiving flowers from the Doctor. I quickly shrugged it off. _What the hell is wrong with me lately?_

The two of us exited the TARDIS and walked in through the front door of the Pond’s house. “Doctor, shouldn’t we knock?” I asked as we invited ourselves in.

“Nah, it’s a party, they’re expecting people to come waltzing in un-expectantly.”

Outside on the back patio I spotted Amy on the phone. “There she is!” I pointed out happily.

“We thought you might’ve dropped by. I left you messages.” Amy spoke into the phone.

“I know. Happy anniversary!” The Doctor cried happily shoving the flowers in her face once she turned around. “And bring your husband.” He then grabbed my hand and began dragging me along with him. I glanced back at Amy and flashed her an encouraging smile while nodding my head to follow us. She glanced back at Rory and shared a confused look with her husband before the two of them followed us into the TARDIS.

 

~

Once inside the TARDIS the Doctor gave each of us clothing from the 1800s to change into. The Ponds hurried off to get changed leaving me alone in the console room with the Doctor. I glanced down at the satin navy blue fabric in confusion.

“Why aren’t you changing?” I asked raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

The Doctor gestured to his usual tweed coat and slacks. “And what exactly is wrong with my outfit?” He questioned a smirk growing on his face.

“Nothing. I was just wondering why I have to change when you said that we were just dropping off the Ponds for their anniversary.”

The Doctor shrugged. “I figured you’d like to check out the Savoy as well so I booked us a room too. Keep an eye on the Ponds. Make sure nothing goes wrong, as that does seem to happen quite often.” He rambled.

I shook my head with a smile. “Fair enough. Be right back.” With that I went to change into the navy blue gown the Doctor had selected for me.

 

~

“26th of June, 1890. The recently opened Savoy Hotel. Dinner, bed and breakfast for two. Bonjour, bonjour. Merci, Auguste. You'll be back before the party's over. They won't even notice you went. No complications, I promise.” The Doctor said as we stepped out of the TARDIS and into the magnificent Savoy hotel.

Rory then stepped up to the Doctor, took his face in his hands and kissed him on the cheek. I held back a laugh as the Doctor smiled back happily and let out an “Ooo.” Once Rory let go of him he turned to the TARDIS. “Let me park her somewhere safe, be right back.” And with that he was gone, leaving me alone with the lovebirds.

Amy and Rory burst into a fit of giggles and began bouncing up and down while I stood off to the side enjoying their moment of happiness. Amy then turned to me and enveloped me in a hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She cried happily practically bouncing with excitement.

I laughed at her excited state and joined her in the bouncing. “This is so exciting! I’m so happy for you two. Congratulations on your anniversary.”

“Thank you!” We stopped bouncing and Amy looked around in confusion. “Are you and the Doctor staying as well?”

“Yeah, he said he booked us a room. Wanted to show me the hotel too.” I shrugged.

Amy got an evil glint in her eyes and smirked knowingly at me. I felt my heart stop. “No, Amy. Don’t even get ideas like that!” I blurted before she could say anything to embarrass the crap out of me.

Her smile grew eviler. “I didn’t say anything.”

I face palmed for walking right into her trap. She let out a laugh and was about to say something before the Doctor came running over. He draped his arms over both of our shoulders and pulled us in close.

“Ah, the Savoy hotel. Always wanted to visit this place. Gives off a very romantic atmosphere for couples.” He let go of the two of us and spun around. “Now, Claire, why don’t we leave the Ponds to themselves, stay out of their way and go explore.”

“Um sure.” I answered. I made to join the Doctor, but Amy pulled me aside.

“Later you and I, girl talk, ‘kay?” She whispered so the Doctor and Rory couldn’t hear.

“But shouldn’t you be spending that time with Rory. It’s your anniversary after all.” I protested.

Amy rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m going to spend time with Rory. I just really need to talk to you later. Besides the Doctor will get bored easily and will probably suggest that the four of us meet up later anyways.”

I laughed. “You’re right. I’ll text you once he starts getting restless.”

“Good.” With that the four of us parted into our significant pairs and left in opposite directions.

The Doctor led me down the halls of the Savoy in search of our room so we could settle in. The walk didn’t remain quiet for too long.

“So, what did Amy want?” The Doctor asked curiously.

I smirked. “None of your business.”

He gaped and stopped in his tracks. “Oh come on, that’s not fair!”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just girl talk, Doctor. You wouldn’t be interested. Besides, its rude to butt into other people’s business.”

The Doctor pouted. “Fair enough.”

We continued to walk past several doors before we finally stopped at room number eleven.

“Well, here we are.” The Doctor announced producing a key from his coat pocket. He jammed the key in the door and pushed it open revealing one of the most breathtaking rooms I’d ever laid eyes on.

The walls were painted a light cream hue with ornate gold designs decorating the trim. A glass table with a vase of white and yellow flowers sat in the middle of the room along with a few golden loveseats. Decorative lamps and a glass chandelier filled the room with a warm light. Beautiful paintings and mirrors decorated the walls completing the living area.

“This is amazing.” I gasped as I went on to explore the rest of the suite. The next room was a bedroom consisting of a four-poster king sized bed decorated with cream blankets with gold flowers embroidered into them. Pillows of many shapes and sizes took up a good portion of the bed. There were oak dressers, more decorative mirrors, paintings, lamps and chairs placed about the spacious room. To my left was a door leading to the bathroom. Inside was an enormous bathtub in the center of the room that could easily fit three people. The walls, floors and counters were made of a beautiful white marble with gold trim. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Doctor, this place is gorgeous!” I called exiting the bathroom. In the center of the bedroom was the Doctor with a slightly nervous look on his face. “What’s wrong?” I asked my smile fading.

“Well, you see, erm…” He stuttered. “I may have goofed up.”

I arched an eyebrow. “How so?”

“I thought I had ordered a suite with two bedrooms, but I accidentally ordered a honeymoon suite.” He cringed.

I paused understanding what he was getting at. “That’s ok, we can ask the front desk if they have any available rooms.”

“I already did. The place is so jam packed due to the grand opening, there are no other rooms.”

I bit my bottom lip. “Oh.”

The Doctor scratched the back of his head in thought. “We’ll figure something out later. Let’s go see how the Ponds are.”

“Doctor, we were just with them twenty minutes ago. Let them have their space.” I laughed causing the Doctor to pout slightly.

My cell phone vibrated indicating that I had a new text. I pulled the device out of my purse and read the most recent text. It was from Amy.

_He’s restless already isn’t he?_

I giggled quietly to myself earning a strange look from the Doctor.

_Yes, he just started._

The Doctor tried peering over my shoulder to see who I was texting, but I moved out of the way every time he came up behind me.

_Meet Rory and I for dinner in a few minutes. That should keep him occupied for the time being. Plus, we need to talk._

I rolled my eyes and once again stepped away from the Doctor.

_K, that sounds good. I know we need to talk; you made that very clear earlier._

I was about to turn off my phone when the Doctor yanked it out of my hand and read my conversation with Amy.

“Hey!”

The Doctor arched an eyebrow and looked up at me suspiciously. “Why does Amy want to speak with you?”

“Doctor, she’s my friend, I’m allowed to talk to her, yeah? Besides, like I said before, it’s just girl talk.”

The Doctor eyed me suspiciously before tossing my phone back. “All righty then, lets get dinner.”

 

~

The four of us met up in the hotel lobby before heading to dinner. As the rest of the hotel, the dinning room was gorgeous; decorated with sparkling chandeliers and hundreds of tables dressed in white tablecloths. Rory pulled out a chair for Amy earning a loving look from his wife. I smiled at the couple and went to pull out my own chair, but the Doctor was quicker than me.

“There you go, Claire.” The Doctor said with a smile holding the chair out for me.

I shyly took a seat, a light blush coloring my cheeks. “Thank you, Doctor.”

The Doctor took a seat next to me as Amy smiled evilly at me from across the table. I glared at her while Rory glanced between the two of us in confusion. “Umm, did I miss something?” Rory asked clearly confused as to why Amy and I were making strange faces at one another.

“Nothing.” Amy blurted out.

“Nothing at all.” I added.

“You two have been acting very strange since we’ve got here.” The Doctor stated glancing between the two of us suspiciously. “I want to know what’s going on.”

Thankfully our waiter came over to take our orders at that moment, allowing us time to avoid answering the Doctor’s question. Once our orders had been placed Amy stood up and informed us she had to go to the bathroom.

“Claire, care to join me.” She asked eyeing me expectantly.

With a heavy sigh I rose from the table. Before I could follow after Amy, the Doctor grabbed my hand. He looked up at me concern written all over his face.

“Are you alright?”

I knelt down beside him and smiled warmly. “Of course I’m alright. Girls don’t go to the bathroom alone that’s all.” I inwardly cringed at myself for using that pathetic stereotype as an excuse.

He eyed me carefully before bringing my hand to his lips. I felt an electric shock travel up my arm causing me to jump slightly. The Doctor pulled away concern written all over his face. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine.” I reassured him before quickly joining Amy. I put my hands to my burning cheeks in an attempt to cool them.

A smirk tugged at Amy’s lips as she dragged me into the bathroom. She slammed the door shut and locked it.

“You like him don’t you?” She asked her smile growing bigger by the second.

My blush deepened and I quickly averted my eyes. “Ah! I knew it!” She squealed pulling me into a hug.

I felt my heart pounding out of control. “Shit. Am I really that obvious?”

She pulled away with a laugh. “Nah, guys are slow. It’ll take a snail shorter to figure it out than a guy.”

“Yah, but isn’t the Doctor’s senses higher than ours? He could’ve known before I even figured it out. In fact, I’m pretty sure I just figured it out a minute ago?”

“No, just because he’s a Time Lord doesn’t mean he can tell faster. Actually he’s probably slower than most guys anyways.” She rolled her eyes before crossing her arms and leaning against the doorframe. “And what do you mean, you just figured it out a minutes ago?”

I gulped. “Well, I don’t know. Lately, I’ve been feeling butterflies in my stomach or my heart will stop when he’s around. I’ve been trying to convince myself that I don’t like him, but I’m beginning to think otherwise. Just a few minutes ago when he kissed my hand a bolt of electricity ran up my arm. I’m not sure what that’s all about, I only though that stuff happened in romance novels.”

“Oh my God, you felt the electricity thing! I’ve been with a few guys and I’ve only felt that with Rory.” She gasped. “What if you’re meant to be with the Doctor? Oh that would be so cool! But then again there’s River, but that hasn’t been working out well since the last I’ve heard.”

“Amy, I’m pretty sure it’s just a silly crush. Besides, whenever I have a stupid crush on someone, I end up hurt in the end. That’s why they’re called crushes.” I sighed heavily. “Wait, who’s River?”

Amy’s face blanked and she averted her eyes from me. I sighed deeper and felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. “She’s his lady friend isn’t she?” I asked, starting to feel the familiar crush squeeze at my heart.

“She’s his wife. Well was his wife. I’m not really sure what she is anymore to be honest.”

Another sigh escaped my lips. “See, another crush. Well time to start convincing myself that I don’t like him anymore. Which is bound to be hard since I’m actually friends with him.”

“No, no, Claire, you don’t understand. She’s never around anymore. She’s never there for him. Besides, they’re relationship is a bit mixed up.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“They meet in the wrong order and they always will. It’s hard to explain, but I’m almost certain that they’re going to break it off at some point.”

“Amy, you don’t know that for sure.” I protested.

“No, I am sure. Trust me, no one knows River and the Doctor more than me.”

“Why is that?”

“Ugh, I knew I was going to have to tell you this at some point. Might as well do it now.” Amy pushed herself up on the counter and patted the space besides her. “Sit. This is going to be a long story.”

 

~

 

“You and Rory are her parents?” I asked not quite believing the story Amy had just told me.

“Yeah, time does get mixed up a lot when you’re traveling with the Doctor.” She sighed.

I blew a piece of hair out of my face. “You can say that again.” My phone started playing _The River Flows in You_ by Lindsey Stirling. I answered my phone warily not recognizing the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Claire! Will you two hurry up? How long does it take to use the toilet?” The Doctor called from the other end.

I winced. “Sorry, Doctor. Amy has the runs. We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“I DO NOT HAVE THE RUNS!” Amy shouted angrily.

“Oi, tell Pond to quite screaming like that. She’ll break someone’s eardrums. And hurry up!” With that he hung up.

I rolled my eyes and put my phone away. “So impatient.” I muttered.

Amy smiled. “Don’t worry about River, ok. I can tell he cares for you and not in the way he cares for Rory and I. He definitely has feelings for you, trust me.”

I eyed Amy not quite knowing what to say or how to feel at the moment. “You should probably head back to the table. I’ll be there in a bit, I just need to use the bathroom.”

“You ok?” She asked draping an arm across my shoulders.

I nodded. “I’m fine I just need to think that’s all.”

Amy nodded and left, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I turned to the mirror and examined my reflection. The Doctor was married. _Of course he’s married. Every time you find yourself having feelings for a guy something always ruins it. You’re never meant to have a love life, Claire. Face it._ I blinked back a few hot angry tears. _Amy did say that their relationship is practically over. Besides, he’s never mentioned River once. If he truly cared for her he probably would’ve brought her up by now. And if she was a dedicated wife wouldn’t she be spending every minute of everyday with him. That’s what I would do, if I were someone’s wife._ I shook my head of the dangerous thoughts. _I should probably get back to the table before they start worrying about me._

I quickly did a once over in the mirror before heading to the door. Just as I was about to open the door our waiter came bursting into the room. A small gasp escaped my lips.

“Um, excuse me, this is the ladies room. You’re not supposed to be in here.” I told him ignoring my shaking hands. Something didn’t feel right.

“Make a sound and you’re dead.” He spoke menacingly. Before I knew it, he picked me up and carried me into the bathroom stall. My heart pounded dangerously against my chest as my anxiety burst through the roof. I tried wriggling my way out of his grip, but he was too strong. _I’m going to die._ He sat me on the toilet and tied my arms and legs together before finally gagging me. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared my captor in the eyes. _Please let the Doctor find me._

“You humans are way too easy to conquer. Well, at least this one has a pretty face.” The waiter slurred.

At that moment the image of the man quickly disintegrated and was replaced with an exact replica of me. My eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“Mm. You travel with the Doctor. I’ve heard of him. He’s defeated us quite a few times before, but not this time. I have an advantage now. Taking on the form of a companion, now that’s bound to do the trick.  Have fun in the toilet.”

The imposter then walked out of the bathroom shutting the lights off in the process and locking the door.

Anxiety nagged at my brain causing my teeth to chatter through the gag. Tears leaked down my face in a hot trail as I stared into the darkness. _Please, help me._

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who Characters belong to the BBC.**

** The Doctor’s POV **

 

“What’s taking Claire so long?” I asked worry lacing my voice. Our food had arrived a few minutes ago and she was still in the bathroom.

“She’s been gone for quite a while now.” Rory added.

“She said she needed a moment to herself. Giver her some time.” Amy said picking at her pasta. _Wait a minute Amy claimed that she needed to talk to Claire. Did she say something to upset her? I swear if Claire’s in the bathroom crying right now…_

“Amy, what did you say to her?” I asked slowly getting angry at the red head.

“Nothing! She just needed a moment.”

“It’s been thirty minutes!” I pushed myself up from the table. “I’m going to go see if she’s alright.”

Amy rose from her seat. “No, I’ll go get her. You can’t just waltz into a girl’s bathroom.”

“Wait, here she comes.” Rory stated.

Sure enough Claire came walking back into the room a smile on her face when she spotted us. I walked up to her before she could approach the table. “Are you alright?” I asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Doctor, I’m fine. I just had to use the bathroom.” She then took my hand and led us back to the table.

She took a seat before I could pull out her chair for her. Brushing it off I took my seat next to her and examined her face. She didn’t appear to be crying and there weren’t any signs of distress on her face, so that was good. I continued to study her features until she cleared her throat catching me off guard.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” She said with a smirk rising a glass of wine to her lips.

My eyes widened in surprise as I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Amy and Rory seemed to be shocked as well. There was definitely something off about her.

Dinner carried on with reminiscing over past journeys with the Ponds. The three of us were deep in conversation while Claire just observed us from the side. I stole small glances at her to make sure she was ok, but only received a smirk or a wink in return. I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion and continued to listen to the story the Ponds were currently reliving: Venice, Italy.

“So, Claire, what kind of adventures has the Doctor brought you on since we saw you last?” Rory asked once their story was over.

Claire paused. She was at a complete loss for words and looked to me for help. _What’s happened to you?_ Concern itched at me as I decided to test her. “Well, I brought Claire to London and she met an old friend of mine.”

“Ah yes, London. It was kind of dull to be honest, not really all that exciting.” She said raising another glass of wine to her lips. This was her fourth. I watched her down the liquid without a care and reached to pour herself some more.

Quickly, I took the bottle away from her and handed it to a nearby waiter. “I think you’ve had enough.” I muttered.

She shrugged it off and leaned into my shoulder heavily. She was definitely intoxicated. “Claire, I hate to break it to you, but I think you may be drunk.” I stated moving my arm to support her.

“I’m not drunk, silly.” She giggled as she ran her hand up my inner thigh.

A deep blush quickly burned at my ears as I jumped to my feet. “Ok, you should probably get some sleep.”

“But I’m not tired!” She wined reaching a hand out for me.

I knelt down beside her, eyeing her carefully. “Claire, you’re not yourself at the moment and right now you need some rest, ok.”

Her large brown eyes looked up at me sadly, a small pout tugging at her lips. “Ok.” She wrapped her arms around my neck as I picked her up from her seat. We received strange looks as she encircled her legs around my waist. The blush tinting my cheeks burned hotter as I tried to ignore her tiny body pressed up against mine. The four of us left the dinning room in a hurry, in an attempt to avoid any other disapproving looks. As we headed back to our room I felt something wet tickling at my ear.

“Rory, what is she doing?” I asked fearing the answer.

“Erm… she’s licking your ear.” Rory mumbled.

Amy laughed as I tilted my ear away only to have her lick at my neck instead. My hearts thudded wildly against my chest as I tried ignoring the sudden heat down south. “Claire, can you please stop that.” I muttered quickly rounding the corner to where our room was.

“But you like it.” She purred.

I glanced at Amy who shared an equally shocked expression, but was trying so hard to fight back fits of laughter. Our room was only a few doors away, rummaging through my pockets with my free hand I fished for the key. Once in hand, I tossed it to Rory who quickly unlocked the door and let us in.

I had Amy and Rory turn on the gas lamps as I ushered Claire to a nearby chair. I sat her down finally escaping her cursed tongue. Quickly I wiped at my neck earning a burst of giggles from the culprit.

Amy and Rory soon joined me as we gathered around Claire.

“What are we going to do with her?” Amy asked. “I’ve never seen someone get so drunk after only a few drinks.

“Amy, she’s tiny. Her body can’t handle that many drinks.” Rory informed.

I rubbed my face in thought as I turned to Amy. “Can you help her get cleaned up? She obviously isn’t going to be able to do it herself.” I sighed.

Amy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.” She turned to Claire. “Come on lets get you cleaned up, yeah.” The ginger held her hand out to the brunette. Claire took her hand and let Amy pull her up, wobbling slightly in the process. I watched as the two walked out of sight and into the bedroom.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I settled down on the loveseat. Rory stood in front of me worry denting his features.   
“Claire is more than drunk.” Rory uttered.

“I know.” I scratched at my chin. “Something’s been wrong with her since she came back from the bathroom.”

Rory nodded furiously. “That’s what I was thinking. Amy told me she just wanted to talk to her about you, but it wasn’t anything that was meant to upset her.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What did she say?”

Rory shrugged. “I have no idea.”

I shook my head. “Go back to the bathroom in the dinning room. See if you can find anything. Something’s not right around here.”

 

 

** Claire’s POV **

 

It was dark. Very, very dark. My heart beat wildly against my chest as my palms sweat profusely. Anxiety was eating away at my mind as I tried escaping from my restraints, but to no avail. Tears slid down my cheeks and dampened the cloth that gagged my mouth. I had tried screaming through it, but to no avail, besides my throat was starting to run dry. I closed my eyes and opened them again. The only way I could tell that my eyes were closed was when I felt my lashes tickling lightly at my cheeks.

I couldn’t tell how much time had gone by, but I was definitely certain that it’d been at least an hour since I last saw Amy or the Doctor. _Please let them find me. Hopefully that imposter got something wrong about me and they know that I’m missing._ I sighed heavily. There was a chance that they may never know that I was missing. That thing looked just like me.

A light breeze tickled at my cheeks and loose strands of hair blew lightly against my face. A window must be open somewhere. I looked around for an opening or a light source, but it was too dark to make anything out. The wind started to pick up and a faint blue light started to light up the bathroom. My heart soared with relief as Perious materialized in front of me.

_Thank god._

Perious immediately flipped the bathroom light on and ran to my side. He expertly undid my bindings and removed the wretched gag from my mouth.

“Thank you so much.” I rasped trying to find my voice again.

“Claire is in danger.” Perious wallowed.

I put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be safe as soon as I can find the Doctor.”

He nodded and helped me to my feet. At that moment there was a loud knocking on the bathroom door.

“Hello? Is anybody in there?” The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t make it out. _Is that Rory?_

Perious eyed me. “Should I protect you?”

“No, no. That won’t be necessary. He’s good.” I shook my head. “Rory is that you?” I made my way for the door.

“Claire? How? What?”

I unlocked the door and came face to face with a flabbergasted Rory. “Oh you don’t know how good it feels to see a familiar face.” I breathed pulling him into a hug. “Wait you are really Rory, right? Not an imposter?”

“Uh… yes, I’m really Rory.” He showed me his wedding band for proof. “You’re here in the bathroom and you’re also with the Doctor and Amy. How-” He stopped abruptly. “Claire, there’s a giant lizard behind you. Don’t move.”

I laughed. “Oh, Perious? Don’t worry about him, he only wants to protect me so don’t get on his bad side.”

Rory shook his head trying to wrap his mind around everything.

“What did you say about there being another me with Amy and the Doctor?”

Rory snapped back to attention and pointed awkwardly to Perious. “There are a lot of people outside. You might not want to have a giant lizard roaming about.”

“True.” I turned to my protector. “Thank you, Perious. You can leave now.”

The lizard bowed before disappearing in the same wind that he arrived in.

“Right. There’s another you, but she’s kind of intoxicated.”

I raised my eyebrows in shock. “What?”

 

 

** The Doctor’s POV **

****

“Ah! Claire, no! Come back.” Amy yelled before a half naked Claire came running into the room. She was clad in only her underwear and immediately ran over to me. I quickly covered my eyes in an attempt to allow her some decency, but she wasn’t having any of that. I felt someone jump in my lap and start kissing my neck.

“AMY!” I yelled my face turning beat red as Amy tried prying Claire off of me.

My hearts were beating rapidly against my chest as her soft lips pecked at my exposed neck. My arms flailed about uselessly as Amy pried Claire from me. I uncovered an eye just in time to see the door smash open. My jaw nearly dropped at the sight before me.

 

** Claire’s POV **

 

Rory and I quickly made or way back to the room receiving strange looks from nearby staff and guests. Upon reaching the door I quickly tried the handle it was locked. _Great._ Not knowing what else to do I took a few steps back and looked to Rory who nodded in understanding. The two of us then threw all of our weight at the door smashing it open in the process. My jaw dropped in shock at the sight before me.

The Doctor was sitting on a chair staring at me in shock with a mix of slight horror on his face as Amy tried prying my half naked clone off of him. If it were someone else’s body I probably would’ve laughed at the scene, but since it was my body that was exposed I was mortified.

“Oh dear god.” Rory said taking in the scene as well.

My clone stopped struggling and looked at me. Shock crossed her features before changing to slight defeat. “Well, it was certainly fun while it lasted.” She pulled herself away from Amy and stopped trying to pounce on the Doctor. I watched in horror as the image of me disappeared into the image of a large red alien covered in suckers.

The Doctor immediately jumped to his feet and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. “Zygon. Stupid, stupid, Doctor! It was so obvious!”

The Zygon snarled at us as Rory and I slowly started backing towards the exit. My back came in contact with something behind me. I turned around and came face to face with one of the hotel staff. She peeked into the room and rolled her eyes. “Well, that certainly didn’t last long.” She stated before turning into a Zygon herself.

Rory and I gasped, quickly running back into the room. We looked to the Doctor for help, but he seemed at a total loss for words. _Great, he doesn’t have a plan._

A light breeze filled the room ruffling my hair as it slowly picked up. An all too familiar blue light filled the room as Perious materialized in front of me. I didn’t have time to react before he let out a breath of icy blue flames at the Zygon closest to the Doctor and Amy. The disgusting red creature let out a horrible scream as it burned into a pile of ashes. Perious then turned to the zygon behind Rory and I, and turned her to ashes as well.

I let out a breath of relief as Perious bowed to me. “You are safe for now.” He rasped before disintegrating.

“What was that?” Amy gasped pointing to the place Perious once stood.

“Long story short. That was Perious, an alien Claire created by accident when I first met her. His mission in life is to protect Claire until the end of his days.” The Doctor informed before racing over to me. He pulled me into a warm hug and stroked my hair. “Thank the stars you’re ok.” He murmured into my hair.

I sighed in relief and rested my head against his chest. The sound of his two beating hearts eased my anxieties away for the time being.

“Uh, Doctor?” Amy spoke up breaking our little moment. “Where exactly are those things coming from?”

The Doctor let go of me and turned around to face her. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”

 

~

 

We waited until late at night when there would be less people roaming the hallways. Slowly the four of us crept out from the suite and made our way down the barren hallway.

“Now keep your eyes out for anything alien.” The Doctor instructed.

“We know the drill.” Amy scoffed.

The hallways were long and dark; the only light came from gas lamps attached to the walls. We neared the end of the hallway, a dead end.

“I hate dead ends.” The Doctor mumbled to himself nodding for us to turn around. As we made our way back down the hallway I spotted a sign above a door on the left.

“Psst, Doctor.” He looked in my direction as I nodded towards the door that read: STAIRWAY.

“Excellent eyes, Claire.” He smiled bopping me on the nose with his pointer finger.

The four of us swiftly made our way down the stairwell. It seemed to go on forever until we reached another door with a sign that read: BASEMENT. The Doctor opened the door and ushered the Ponds and I through. A gasp escaped my lips as I took in the sight before me.

A mass of different colored lights flashed at us from a large control panel. It was covered in hundreds of different buttons, levers and monitors displaying some alien language. Sitting in chairs working the large console were at least seven Zygons. Luckily they’re backs were turned to us and they didn’t seem to notice that we were there. We quickly exited the room unnoticed, shutting the door quietly behind us. The Ponds and I turned to a rather impish Doctor.

“It seems that the Zygons may have planted their ship in the basement and we just happened to stumble upon the control room.” He winced.

“Well, what exactly are we supposed to do?” Amy asked crossing her arms against her chest.

“We find a way to get the Zygons out without killing anyone. Simple really.” The Doctor shrugged. Amy and I glared at him. “Ok, not really that simple.”

“Exactly how many Zygons are here?” Rory asked nervously.

“Probably over a hundred and if their base is under the hotel; let’s not be surprised if everyone here is actually a Zygon.”

“Great.” I grumbled exchanging a worried glance with Amy.

“Now, now, let’s not get discouraged. All I have to do is try reasoning with them and I’ll have this mess fixed in no time. Then Amy and Rory can have their anniversary in peace.”

 

~

 

“Doctor, next time, don’t jinx us.” I said wrapping my shawl tighter around my body in an attempt to keep out the chill. The four of us were kicked out of the Savoy for causing havoc and were now sitting on the streets in the snow.

“Agreed.” Amy groaned.

The Doctor looked at us both empathetically. “Bit of a shock, Zygon ship under the Savoy, half the staff imposters. Still, it’s all fixed now.” He flashed us a smile in an attempt to cheer us up, but we returned it with a hard glare.

“Yeah, after loosing Claire, nearly getting Amy killed after trying to negotiate with them and then that weird alien thing who follows Claire around, decides to come in and set the whole place on fire. Yup, everything’s fixed alright.” Rory said sarcastically.

Amy rose to her feet and turned to the Doctor. “Let’s just go home. It’s freezing here. Where’s the TARDIS.”

The Doctor avoided eye contact with her. Amy knelt down to his level anger pouring off of her. “Doctor.”

“I may have misplaced her. She should be somewhere on this street.” He rose to his feet and looked up and down the street. “Or perhaps the next one over.”

“Come on then, let’s go find her and get out of here before we all freeze to death.” Rory groaned wrapping an arm around Amy. The couple walked down the street leaving the Doctor and I slightly behind them.

The Doctor helped me to my feet and removed his coat. “Doctor, don’t do that you’ll be cold.” I argued.

“You need it more than I do right now.” He said draping it over my shoulders before wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. I let him wrap me up in his warmth as we walked slowly behind the Ponds. “So, what happened to you before?” He asked me.

“Well, after Amy left, our waiter came into the bathroom. He grabbed me before I could react. I thought I was going to be raped or killed, that was until it took on my image. It then left me tied and gagged to a toilet in the locked dark bathroom.” I answered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it wasn’t you earlier.” The Doctor apologized.

“It’s ok.” I felt him tighten his grip on me slightly. “Is something wrong?”

“What did Amy tell you, about me?” He asked suddenly.

I felt my heart skip a beat and I focused my eyes on the road ahead in an attempt to avoid eye contact. “She- she just wanted to ask me some personal things.” I half-lied. Nothing was coming to mind and I had no idea what to say. Immediately I regretted saying what I had just said.

The Doctor stopped walking and let go of me. The cold air nipped at me again the second his warmth was taken away from me. “Claire, I know you’re lying.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’m just not sure if I’m allowed to know about this that’s all. Which is why I’ve been avoiding it.”

“What did she tell you?” He asked again, this time a bit softer.

“She told me about River.” The Doctor went quiet for a moment. I hesitantly looked up at him. Something about him changed. It was like a sort of sadness came over him. I opened my mouth to apologize when Amy came running over.

“We found her, she’s just around the corner.” Her smile faded as she examined the two of us. “Everything ok?”

The Doctor brightened immediately. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” He wrapped his arm around me again and led the two of us back to the TARDIS.

_I never should have brought up River._


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

“Come on Claire, wear your hair down!” Amy whined after several attempts to get me to pull my mane out of its current bun.

“Ugh. How many times do I have to tell you, its too frizzy today and I want it out of my face.” I groaned flopping onto my bed and hiding my face in one of the many pillows.

“But Amy wants to see Claire Bear’s pretty hair.” She cried nuzzling her face in my back.

I pushed her off with a laugh. “What on earth did you just call me?” I asked.

“Claire Bear. I kind of like that, actually. I think I’m going to call you that for now on.”

I threw a pillow at her. “There is no way in hell you are calling me that! The Doctor will pick up on it immediately, then I’ll never be rid of it.”

“Exactly.” She said with a devilish grin. A gasp escaped my lips as she whacked me with a pillow.

“What was that for?” I asked whacking her in return.

She erupted into a fit of giggles as the two of us repeatedly whacked one another with pillows. It didn’t take very long for Rory to come barging in.

“What are you guys doing?” He asked. “I could hear you two from down the hall.”

“I’m just trying to get Claire to wear her hair down.” Amy pouted.

“Which is not going to happen.” I said whacking her with a pillow.

“You know what, let’s make a pact. I won’t tell the Doctor your new nickname if you wear your hair down for the entire day.”

“Oh that’s blackmail!” I gasped.

“Doctor!” Amy hollered.

“Wait! I’m taking it down, I’m taking it down!” I hurriedly took my bun out letting my curly mane stick out every which way. “I look like Cousin It.”

“No you don’t.” Amy protested as she parted my hair to the side in an attempt to calm it down a bit.

“I heard shouting. What happened?” The Doctor asked barging into the room screwdriver in hand.

“Nothing, just a little blackmail.” I muttered.

He eyed us suspiciously before leaving the room. “Wait for it.” Amy grinned just as the Doctor came running back in.

“Blackmail?” He asked looking between the two of us suspiciously. Immediately I pointed at Amy who shook her head vigorously.

“Just ignore them Doctor, they’re fighting over whether Claire should wear her hair down or not.” Rory informed him with a roll of his eyes.

“BETRAYAL!” Amy shouted as the two of us chucked pillows at him.

He immediately held his arms up in defense before running out of the room for cover. “Wimp!” Amy called after him with a laugh.

“Oh Amy, that wasn’t very nice. He’s your husband.” I said feeling bad for Rory.

“He’ll get over it.” She then turned her attention to the Doctor an evil smirk crossing her features.

The Doctor gulped as he slowly started backing towards the exit. “I’m going to leave now.” He stated pointing towards the exit. Amy then chucked a pillow at him, which he swiftly dodged. “By the way, I like your hair, Claire.” He said just as another pillow came flying his way. Luckily, he moved out of the room just in time, leaving completely unharmed.

“Well at least you know a certain someone likes your hair.” Amy teased.

I felt my face heat up from embarrassment. “Shut up.” I said whacking her with a pillow one final time.

 

~

 

“So are we headed back to the party then?” Amy asked leaning against the console as the Doctor plugged in a few coordinates.

“Yes, we’ll go back.” The Doctor grumbled as he flipped a couple of switches.

Rory came up behind Amy and wrapped his arms around her waist before pecking her lightly on the cheek. I smiled at the two of them. They were absolutely perfect together. _Hopefully, I’ll find love like that one day._ I shook the sappy thought out of my head causing my curls to once again fall in my face. I let out a huff of annoyance.

Luckily, I was able to slip out of the control room unnoticed. I retrieved a headband from my bedroom and put it in place, a smile tugged at the corners of my lips. _Technically it’s still down._ With that I bounced back to the control room only to come face to face with a grinning ginger.

“I knew you’d cave.” She smirked.

“Hey, it’s still down. I’m just keeping it out of my face.” I protested.

“That wasn’t in the rules.” She giggled.

I looked from her to the Doctor. The Doctor had a look on his face indicating that he was trying to hold something in. I groaned inwardly. “Amy, you did not.”

“Oh yes, I did.”

The Doctor approached me with a smile. His lanky arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me in close. “Don’t worry Claire Bear I won’t use it often.”

I glared at him before playfully nudging him in the ribs. “You better not.”

He bopped me on the nose with his pointer finger before returning to the console. He fiddled with a few buttons and levers causing the TARDIS to take off to our next destination. Within the next couple of minutes the TARDIS had landed.

“Home sweet home.” Amy cried opening the door and heading outside. The rest of us soon joined her only to stop dead in our tracks. “Um, Doctor? Where are we?”

The TARDIS had landed in the middle of a long hallway decorated with furniture from the early 1500s.

“I may have typed in the wrong date.” The Doctor winced. At that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. The Doctor began ushering us back to the TARDIS, but she wouldn’t let us back in. “No, no. Don’t do that!” He cried resting his head against the door.

“Why won’t she let us in?” Rory asked in a panic.

“I don’t know!”

“Halt!” The four of us froze in place. “Turn.” Not knowing what else to do we turned around to face a small group of palace guards.

“Ah yes, Hello. Sorry to pop in unexpectedly like this.” The Doctor quickly flashed them his psychic paper. The head guard who had spoken quickly bowed to the Doctor.

“Sir, I’m sorry for not recognizing you. Please right this way. The king will meet with you shortly.” The guard then turned around, the others following suite and headed down the hallway. Not having much of a choice, the four of us followed them.

“Doctor, where are we.” I asked.

“Not entirely sure, but these guys seem to think that I’m of extremely high class so I guess we should be fine for the time being. As for who we’re meeting, I’ve got a funny feeling…” The Doctor trailed off as we entered the throne room. Perched on the throne was no other than King Henry VII. The Doctor’s eyes widened slightly before he leaned his head in close to mine. “We should probably find a way out soon.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “You think.”

Surprisingly, Kind Henry VII rose from his throne and made his way down the steps to greet us. He stopped in front of the Doctor and flashed him a sinister smile. “You’ve finally arrived. I’ve been waiting quite a few hours for you to return.” He spoke with a slight hint of snobbery in his voice.

“Ah yes, I am truly sorry about that. Won’t happen again.” The Doctor apologized as he went along with whatever the king was saying.

_Great he’s just going along with everything. I’ve got a bad feeling about this._

“Shall we get on with the ceremony then?” The king asked looking between the four of us expectantly.

The Doctor nodded hesitantly. “We shall.”

King Henry VII then made his way back up to his throne where he stood and looked down on the four of us. I couldn’t help but feel intimidated by him. I nearly jumped out of my skin when an arm snaked around my waist. Turning my head to the side I came face to face with the Doctor.

“What’s going on?” I asked watching the guards begin to usher a sudden crowd of people into the room.

“I don’t know, some sort of a ceremony.” The Doctor answered as he pulled me closer to him.

A light blush tinted my cheeks when I realized just how close he was holding me. My heart fluttered slightly as adrenaline pumped through my veins. _Claire, get a hold of yourself; it’s not like that. He’s married remember?_

I snapped out of my thoughts once the king began speaking. He drawled on using a lot of lengthy and old-fashioned words that I couldn’t make out until he was then taken over by another man. The new speaker was clad in white robes with a golden cross embroidered on it.

“Doctor, I think it’s a wedding.” I whispered.

“Yes, it would appear so.” He was looking around the room distractedly.

“What’s the matter?”

“Have you seen Amy anywhere?” Rory asked suddenly looking around as well.

My eyes scanned the crowd for the red head. “Oh my god.” I gasped spotting her at the front of the room with the king and the priest.

The Doctor and Rory followed my line of vision. “What is she doing? She can’t marry the king! She’s my wife!” Rory gasped.

The priest said something to Amy and she looked back at him in confusion before answering “Yes.”

“I now pronounce you man and wife.” The priest spoke joyously.

Amy gaped finally realizing what she had just done. Quickly she fled the stage and ran off into the hallway.

"Come on." The Doctor let go of my waist and grabbed my hand instead as the three of us raced after Amy.

The three of us met up with Amy in the hallway. We didn't even have time to question what happened because guards were quick on our tail. The Doctor immediately ushered us into a nearby bedroom.

"Gentlemen, open the doors." The king called from down the hall.

"I thought we were going home?" Amy hissed.

"Can't miss a good wedding. Under the bed, under the bed!" He whispered frantically.

I was crammed against the Doctor and Amy as we tried squishing together as much as possible so Rory could fit in as well. My heart beat rapidly against my chest as the sound of heavy footsteps made their way down the hall. The echoes from the boots grew closer and closer to the door.

"Shush!' The Doctor ordered holding a finger up to his lips.

"It wasn't my fault." Amy grumbled.

"It was totally your fault!" Rory protested.

"Somebody was talking, and I just said yes."

"To wedding vows! You just married Henry VII on our anniversary."

"Shush!" I hushed them just as the doors slammed open.

King Henry VII immediately strolled into the room. My heart beat wildly as my hands started to sweat. _Please don't find us._

At that moment, the Doctor let out a sneeze. I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach as the King's feet stopped right in front of the bed.

"Sorry." The Doctor apologized.

My heart rate picked up to a million miles per minute as I held my breath. Adrenaline coursed rapidly through my veins as I thought of the worst. Slowly the king lifted the blankets hiding our cover. His cold eyes stared right through us before he stood up and dropped the blanket. He shuffled around the room a few more times before leaving the room. Once the door clicked shut I felt safe to breathe.

"He stared right at us!" Rory gasped. "How did he not notice us?"

The four of us scuffled out from under the bed. The Doctor helped me to my feet before looking under the bed again. "Must've been some sort of perception filter." He muttered. He pulled out his sonic and began scanning under the bed. "Yup, perception filter, but where did it come from is the question." He leapt to his feet suddenly and began scanning the room. "If I triple bypass the readings of the perception filter I may be able to figure out the source."

The Doctor slowly moved from our hiding spot under the bed to the side where we climbed out from. The low beeping of the sonic started to grow more and more high pitched as the Doctor pointed in my direction. I felt my eyes widen from shock as the Doctor stopped in front of me. His eyes were the size of flying saucers as his mouth hung slightly open. "It's coming from you."

I blinked my self back into reality and pointed disbelievingly at myself. "I don't even know what a perception filter is. Let alone know how to make one." I answered not truly believing I was the one who hid us.

The Doctor continued to stare me down before shaking it off. "We'll figure this out later, right now we need to get out before we’re caught again."

~

Luckily, the four of us managed to make it back to the safety of the TARDIS without getting caught. The Ponds sat on the captain's chair waiting impatiently as the Doctor started setting up a few monitors.

"What exactly are you going to do?" I asked nervously as the Doctor rolled up my right sleeve.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to take a tiny sample of blood and run a few tests." He answered wiping my arm with antiseptic. He pulled out a needle and wiped it clean. I felt like I was going to be sick by the mere sight of it. The Doctor seemed to sense my discomfort. "Don't worry you won't feel a thing." He said before pricking me with it before I even had time to react.

"Ouch, way to warn me."

"Sorry, I lied." I glared at him as he bandaged up my arm and placed my blood sample on a small plate that popped out of the console.

He popped it back in and began furiously typing on the keyboard as the Gallifreyan language popped up on the screen. The Ponds rose to their feet and joined me as we watched the results for whatever tests the Doctor was running come up. The Doctor stopped running the tests and looked up at the screen. Disbelief flashed across his features.

"What's wrong?" I asked immediately.

The Doctor recovered quickly. "Nothing, you're perfectly normal. You just tend give off high amounts of energy that I still can't seem to place. I might have to run more tests later."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're hiding something."

The Doctor stared back at me a blank expression on his face. Our eyes searched each other for a few long seconds that seemed to last an eternity. The Doctor finally broke our gaze before plugging in the coordinates to the Pond's cottage back in England.


	18. Chapter 18

**Diclaimer:** **All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

After a couple minutes of flying we were back at the Pond’s anniversary party. Everything was exactly the way we left it; no one suspected a thing, well except one.

The Doctor and I stood off to the side as everyone raised their glasses in the air after a toast was given to the happy couple. The Doctor put his arms up in the air and did a weird sort of dance causing me to giggle lightly. I noticed Brian staring at us from across the room, once everyone had gone back to their own activities he approached the Doctor and I.

“How long were they gone?” He asked suspiciously.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Brian.” The Doctor answered casually.

“They are wearing totally different clothes from earlier.”

The Doctor glanced from me to Brian. I shrugged pretending I had no idea what was going on.

“Seven weeks.” The Doctor answered. “I got side tracked. A lot.”

I rolled my eyes at him earning a playful nudge from the man beside me.

“What happened to the other people who traveled with you?” Brian asked suddenly.

The Doctor sighed heavily a pained expression crossing his features. “Some left me. Some got left behind. And some, not many, but, some died.” The Doctor paused and looked down at his feet. “Not them. Not them, Brian. Never them.”

The three of us glanced at the happy couple talking and laughing with a group of friends. Brian sighed heavily before leaving us to talk to one of the guests.

 I felt the Doctor wrap his arm around my shoulders. I tilted my head up to look at him. A sad smile graced his lips as he stared down at me. He brought his head down close to mine and pressed his lips to my cheek. “And never, ever, you. You are under my protection.” He whispered his warm breath tickling at my ear.

My heart picked up its pace and my cheeks blushed heavily from embarrassment. I was at a loss for words. I didn’t know what to say in return, all I could do was nod.

The Doctor pulled away suddenly, breaking our close proximity. A feeling of loss came over me once he pulled away, I wanted to wrap myself back up in his arms and never leave. I shook the thought out of my head, praying that he didn’t notice my sudden embarrassment.

“I’m going to ask Amy if we can stay with them, care to join me?” He asked awkwardly.

“No it’s ok, I’ll stay here.” I answered waving him off. A look of slight disappointment crossed his features, but he shook it off quickly. He told me he would be right back, before leaving in search of Amy.

With a heavy sigh I glanced at the people around me. Everyone knew each other and were lost in deep conversations, the occasional laugh could be heard here and there. I took a sip of my Shirley temple trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone that passed by me. I felt extremely out of place and I wanted nothing more than to get out of the crowd. _I should’ve gone with the Doctor._ I thought to myself.

My phone started vibrating in the back pocket of my jeans. Quickly, I pulled it out, relieved that I had an escape.

“Hello?” I answered as I stepped out into the back garden where it was quieter.

“Hey girl!” Maia practically screamed into the phone. I pulled the phone away from my ear wincing as my ears began ringing.

“Ouch, can you not scream in my ear?” I groaned.

“Sorry. So how’s outer space going with your hot alien boyfriend?” She asked.

I took a seat on a garden bench not too far away from where Amy and the Doctor were chatting. “Ok, how many times do I have to tell you he’s not my boyfriend?”

“If it’s not a thing now, it’ll happen eventually.” She said a smirk in voice.

“Ha, ha, very funny. He only sees me as a friend anyways.” I grumbled.

“So, you do like him!” She squealed.

“Hey, I never said anything about that!” I argued. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the Doctor was finishing up with Amy. He smiled at me and threw me a wave. I gave him a half assed smile and a pathetic wave before pointing to the phone. He only stared back at me with concern. _Shit, he’s going to come over here I need to change the subject._

“Claire, I knew it. He’s a foxy Time Lord now isn’t he?”

“Maia, no. It’s not like that.” I continued to protest.

“Not like what?” The Doctor asked suddenly. I nearly jumped out of my skin as he plopped down on the seat beside me and draped his arm around my shoulders, a new habit of his.

“Hey, did I ever tell you that I met Sherlock Holmes?” I asked changing the subject.

“Claire, why are you changing the subject? I could care less about your space adventures I want to know about your love life.” She continued to babble.

_How the hell am I going to get out of this?_

“Ooh! Can I tell her the story?” The Doctor asked excitedly reaching to grab the phone from my hand. He had a really bad habit of doing that.

“No Doctor.” I quickly jumped out of his grasp.

“Listen, Maia, I’ll call you back later. You know who is trying to take the phone from me.”

“Oh shit, sorry about that. I’ll talk to you later. Have fun! Oh, and use condoms!”

“Maia I’m not-“ With that she hung up.

“Everything all right?” The Doctor asked coming up behind me.

I turned around to face him. “Yeah everything’s fine. Just catching up with Maia, you know how she can be.” I laughed. The Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion. “So what did Amy say?”

“Oh! Yes, she said we could stay here. The party should be dying down within the hour then we can settle in.”

I nodded in agreement. The Doctor and I spent the last hour of the party helping Brian clean up as Amy and Rory said their goodbyes to old friends. By midnight everyone was out of the house and the aftermath of the party was all cleaned up. Brian bid us farewell once he was sure we didn’t need anymore help with anything leaving the Doctor and I alone with the Ponds.

“So yeah, you know where the guest room is. Everything’s clean.” Amy yawned. “Oh! Doctor, don’t touch anything or fix anything or do anything weird to our house while we’re all sleeping, okay?” Amy asked shooting him a warning glare.

The Doctor pouted. “Fine, I won’t touch anything.”

With that Amy and Rory went up stairs to their bedroom. Deciding to retire to bed as well, I made my way down the hallway to the guest room. I flipped on the light and quickly changed into a pair of pajamas. I was about to get into bed when a soft knock was heard on the door.

“Come in.” I answered sitting on the end of the bed.

The Doctor came in with a smile on his face and plopped down next to me. “So I was thinking maybe we could stay up late and play the Wii.” He paused and looked at me. “Or if you’d rather watch a boring movie we could do that instead.”

I smiled at him sleepily. “I’d love to, but I’m exhausted.” I said through a yawn.

“Oh, yes of course. Come to think of it I should probably get some sleep too.”

“You actually sleep?” I asked trying not to appear too shocked.

“Of course I sleep. I just need less of it than humans. You see humans need at least eight hours of sleep a night while Time Lords only need six hours of sleep every three or four days. Right now I’m going on six or seven days without sleep.” He yawned.

“Well since you’re overtired, you can stay in here. I’ll sleep out on the couch.” I said getting up

“No, no. I’ll sleep on the couch. You sleep in here.” The Doctor said pushing me back down on the bed.

“Nonsense. Doctor, you’re too tall for the couch. You have the bed.” I argued.

“You know what… “ The Doctor started, “No, never mind.”

“Wait, what were you going to say?” I asked.

The Doctor tugged at his bowtie nervously. “Well it is a queen sized bed. There’s enough room for both of us and none of us wants the other to sleep on the couch…” The Doctor’s face started turning redder by the second.

I had to stifle a giggle at his embarrassment. “Umm… I guess we could share the bed. If you’re comfortable with that?” I said starting to blush as well.

“Yeah, it’s fine with me. Are you ok with that?” He asked.

“Yeah it’s fine.”

The Doctor nodded before untying his bowtie. Once his favorite garment was discarded he sat on the edge of the bed and began removing his boots and jacket.

I felt my cheeks start to heat up even more. Quickly, I got under the covers and averted my eyes from the stripping Doctor.

A few seconds past and the Doctor shut the lights off. As soon as the lights went out anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks. My heart thudded loudly against my chest; I was surprised the Doctor couldn’t hear it. The room was pitch black and I couldn’t see an inch in front of me. My fear of the dark was quickly taking its toll on me. My body began shaking slightly as my teeth chattered with fear. The bed beside me sunk in as the Doctor lay down. I jumped.

“Claire, you ok?” The Doctor asked, concerned.

“No, n-not r-really.” I mumbled hiding my face in my pillow. “D-don’t laugh, b-but I’m kind of afraid of t-the dark.”

“Why would I find that funny? Besides, why didn’t you say that before?” The familiar buzzing of the sonic filled my ears and the ceiling suddenly turned into a galaxy. The lights from the stars filled the room and different shades of blue and red tinted the walls. “Better?”

“Yes, t-thank you.”

“Claire, come here.” The Doctor ordered softly.

I rolled over to face him. “W-what?” I asked through my still chattering teeth.

The Doctor held his arms open a sincere expression on his face. Shyly I crawled closer to him. Once I was close enough, the Doctor wrapped his strong arms around me and held me close to his chest. He rubbed small circles into my back with one hand and gently stroked my hair with the other. His lips brushed lightly against my ear as he made soft ‘shushing’ noises into it.

Within seconds I felt completely at ease. My anxiety attack completely vanished allowing me a peaceful state of mind. I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck as I gently drifted off to sleep to the sound of the Doctor’s steady beating hearts and soothing voice.

 

~

 

A soft yawn escaped my lips as I roused from my deep slumber. Curling up into a ball I nuzzled my face deeper into my pillow. I let out a soft sigh as I let myself snuggle into the most comfortable pillow on the planet. _Wait why is my pillow thudding?_ I opened my eyes and gasped lightly once they came into full focus. My head wasn’t resting on a pillow; it was the Doctor. My heart began beating rapidly from embarrassment when I realized we had slept the whole night like this. The Doctor’s arms were wrapped tightly around my small frame holding me close to him and his enormous chin rested atop my head. I blushed harder as he pulled me closer to him in his sleep. I didn’t want to disturb him; he looked so peaceful as he slept. With no way of escaping without waking him up I decided to just lie there and wait. I took the time to examine his features. Those beautiful green eyes were closed, but flickered every once in a while as he dreamed. His pale skin looked soft to the touch and I had to refrain myself from stroking his cheek. His full lips were parted slightly as warm breath escaped through them; again I had to hold myself back from kissing those beautifully shaped lips.

A longing for him tugged painfully at my chest, but I knew he could never be mine. He already belonged to a woman and I didn’t want to get in the way of his marriage even if Amy claimed it was bound to end at some point. I found myself hoping she was right, as I couldn’t see myself anywhere else, but with the Doctor. I knew that I had only spent about a month or two with him, but I found myself falling harder and harder in love with him as the days passed on. I wanted nothing more than to be his. To lie with him like this every morning and to fall asleep in his arms like I did last night. That’s why I decided to cherish this moment, as I couldn’t see it happening again.

Slowly the Doctor began to stir. His beautiful green eyes opened and immediately landed on me. I felt myself shrinking back into my shell under his rather intimate gaze. Awkwardly I averted my eyes as the Doctor let out a long loud yawn.

“Aw, that has got to be the best sleep I’ve had in ages.” He lifted his arms from me and stretched out his lean body. “How did you sleep?” He asked turning back to face me.

I blushed. “I slept well.”

“That’s good to hear.” He glanced at the clock only to do a double take. “10 o’clock! I must have been really tired to sleep for that long!”

I laughed lightly. “Maybe you under estimated how much sleep you really need.”

“Well, it’s never happened before. Never mind that. Are you hungry? Lets go see what the Ponds keep for breakfast around here.” With that he jumped out of bed leaving me longing for his company again.

“You coming Claire?” He asked when he realized I hadn’t jumped out of bed as quickly as he did.

I laughed. “Yes, I’m coming.” I crawled out of bed after him and the two of us went to the kitchen in search of some breakfast.

 

~

 

So far we’ve been staying with the Ponds for a little over a week. It wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be and the Doctor made sure to keep himself occupied. Thank God he didn’t complain as much as he did the last time we stayed.

During the week Amy and Rory had work leaving the Doctor and I alone with the cubes. We would often throw one back and forth to each other as we talked about nothing in particular. He would tell me stories of adventures he went on with past companions. He spoke of the ancient ice warriors, the Ood, the cybermen, his most hated enemy the Daleks and much more. He spoke of a few of his past companions Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 who sadly past away a year ago, Captain Jack Harkness a very flirty pansexual man who could never die and eventually became the most ancient creature in the universe; the Face of Boe. He also spoke briefly of Rose Tyler; a past companion he loved dearly who had to be locked in a parallel universe. He told stories of Martha Jones and Mickey Smith who he failed to notice as much as his other companions. The two fell in love though and were married about 3 years now. And finally he spoke of Donna Noble who was the most important woman in the universe, but had all memories of him wiped away in order to save her life. Not once did he mention River, she was still a bit of a mystery to me. I only knew what Amy had told me, but I knew there had to be things she left out.

But, I couldn’t believe everything the Doctor told me about his past. Amy told me that he usually kept it a secret and kept it all bottled up inside. I had no idea why he suddenly felt the need to tell me all of this. He even took me into the TARDIS at one point and showed me pictures of his past regenerations. It was amazing how many bodies he had lived in; they all looked completely different from one another. His dress sense even changed dramatically when he took on a new form. From a long scarf to a piece of celery from a colorful suite to a long trench coat, it was amazing how much he changed.

When the Doctor wasn’t telling me stories of past adventures we would play the Wii or take a few cubes with us on a walk around town. At night he would set up the same galaxy as a nightlight for me. He would press his soft lips to my forehead as a kiss goodnight before leaving the room. When it came time for him to get the sleep that he needed he would come crawl into bed beside me. Usually when this happened I always woke up with his arms wrapped around me. It was strange living a somewhat normal life with the Doctor and the Ponds, so I took the time to appreciate it while it lasted. Normal usually didn’t stay in the life of the Doctor for too long.

 

~

It was mid morning on a Saturday. The Ponds were usually off work on the weekends so they were sitting in the living room with me watching some reality TV show about evil cats being trained to be good for their owners. The Doctor offered to go out grocery shopping so the house was quieter than it usually was. I curled myself up in a small ball on the chair next to the couch with my sketchbook in hand.

Since I started traveling with the Doctor I hadn’t had much time to draw. Plus it seemed as if my creative juices were at a stand still for the past week, but fortunately a surge of inspiration bubbled up to the surface. For the first time in forever I began to sketch. Originally I thought about drawing one of the Transylvanians or perhaps even Sherlock, but I decided I wanted to create, not recreate.

I let my pencil fly across the paper in strange motions until it started to look like something. I enjoyed using this method for when I couldn’t think of anything in particular to draw. This particular sketch was slowly starting to look like a flower. Deciding to come up with my own breed of flower, I began to give it elements that were not typically found in your average flower. It curled into a somewhat bell-shape at the top and fanned out like the wings of a bird at the bottom. Deciding that it needed color I added soft blues and purples on the feathery fan and had it slowly fade to white, as it got closer to the top. I smiled at my new creation.

“What’cha drawing?” Amy asked peering over my shoulder.

“I’m just doodling.” I answered beginning to work on a second flower.

“Oh that’s gorgeous!” Amy gasped pulling my sketchbook out my hands to get a closer look.

I huffed as she passed the sketchbook to Rory.

“Isn’t that beautiful. If only this actually existed, I bet it would look stunning in our garden.” She smiled passing my sketchbook back to me.

“Thanks.” With that I worked on my second flower making this one slightly similar to a tiger lily but gave it small green dots on it’s petals. The base of the flower was a light shade of blue and small pink tendrils sprawled out from either side of the flower. Feeling satisfied with my work I closed my sketchbook and continued to watch bad reality TV with the Ponds.

 

~

About two hours had passed since the Doctor left for the grocery store; he was bound to be home any minute. I found myself wishing I had gone with him. Being away from the Doctor for only a few hours felt like an eternity to me, not to mention an extremely boring eternity.

The Ponds claimed they had some weeding to do out in the garden leaving me alone in the living room. I sighed deeply and opened my sketchbook again. _Might as well draw some more to pass the time._ I started sketching a baby dragon being taught how to fly by its mother. I had the basic forms blocked out and was about to put in the details when suddenly Amy and Rory came barging in small patches of dirt smudged on their faces.

“You’re not going to believe this, but Rory found a flower that looks just like the one you drew this morning.”

I looked to them in shock. “That’s impossible. I made that up on the spot.”

Rory took his hand out from behind his back and produced the bell-feathered flower I had showed them.

“Oh my God.” Not quite believing my eyes I turned the page to the drawing. Sure enough they were exactly identical. “It’s happened again.” I breathed in disbelief.

“RORY!” Amy cried.

The hand that Rory was using to hold the flower started to take on its coloring. A mixture of blue, purple, and white tinted his hand and slowly started to creep up his arm.

“That’s probably not supposed to happen, now is it.” Rory stuttered before his eyes suddenly rolled to the back of his head. With a loud thump Rory fell to the ground completely knocked out.

What’ve I done?

 

~

“Here help me lay him down on the couch.” Amy ordered.

The two of us dragged Rory’s heavy body to the couch. _For such a skinny man he sure weighs a lot._

“What do we do?” I cried. “What do you usually do when something bad happens and the Doctor’s not here?”

“I don’t know wing it!” Amy tried performing CPR on him while muttering. “Come on Rory, don’t you dare die on me again.”

“Hello? Could you lot come help me, there’s an awful lot of groceries.” The Doctor called from the kitchen.

_Thank God._

“Doctor get your ass in here now! Man down!” I yelled. Amy mouthed ‘man down’ at me. “What else am I supposed to say?”

Faster than the blink of an eye the Doctor came running into the living room, sonic in hand. He immediately spotted Rory and began scanning him. “What happened?” He asked eyes widening as he examined the readings.

“Um I drew my own species of flower and Rory found an exact replica of it out in the garden. Then his hand started taking on the color of it and he passed out.” I explained quickly.

The Doctor scanned the flower before turning to me. “Show me your drawing.” I handed him the drawing and watched as the Doctor examined it. “You drew another one, yes?” He asked pointing to the second flower. I nodded. “You two go out in the garden and search for this one. It might be the only thing that can cure Rory, because right now he’s dying and there’s no other way to cure him. Now hurry! I’ll try to slow down the process. Oh and wear gloves, just in case!”

Amy and I ran out into the garden as quickly as possible. Heavy garden gloves protected our hands as we pawed our way through the many plants growing in the Pond’s garden.

“Ahh! Found it!” Amy cried holding the flower up in the air in victory.

The two of us quickly brought the flower back to the Doctor and Rory. In the little time we had been gone almost all of Rory’s skin was the color of the flower he once held in his hand. He wasn’t moving and didn’t appear to be breathing either.

The Doctor quickly rubbed the second flower on every inch of Rory’s skin. Slowly his skin began to turn to its natural color. A loud gasp escaped Rory’s lips as he sat up from his position on the couch.

“Did I die? Again?” He asked.

The Doctor laughed. “Almost. You were lucky this time.”

Amy pounced on Rory and showered him with kisses. I looked away to allow them some privacy.

“Claire, come with me.” The Doctor said gently.

I obeyed and followed the Doctor into the TARDIS. He put the two flowers into a glass jar and flipped a switch. A green gas enveloped the flowers leaving them completely disintegrated after a few seconds.

I looked down at my hands trying to keep in the tears that were threatening to flow. “I’m a monster.” I mumbled.

“What? No.” The Doctor was at my side in a heartbeat. His warm strong arms wrapped me in a hug. “You are anything but a monster.” He let go of me and cupped my face in his hands. “You are the kindest, sweetest woman I have every met, you wouldn’t hurt a fly. Now what makes you think you’re a monster?”

“I almost killed Rory.” I rasped. “Ever since I met you, things I’ve drawn have been coming to life. Perious came to life and injured nearly hundreds of people. Now what I meant to be a harmless doodle ended up coming to life and nearly killed one of my friends.” Not being able to hold them in any longer I let the tears flow.

The Doctor gently wiped them away with his thumb. “None of us knew your drawings would come to life. Besides, Perious ended up being good and we saved Rory.”

“Yes, but what if the next time I decide to let my creative juices flow I end up creating something even more dangerous than what I’ve already created. It seems like I’ll never be able to do what I love without hurting someone.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Claire, I am going to find out why this has been happening and trust me I’ll make sure nothing bad happens. I promise.” With that he placed a kiss to my forehead before letting me go again. All I could do was hope that he was right.

 


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

About a week has past since the flower incident. Just to be safe, I tried to refrain from drawing. The Doctor told me that it was ok for me to draw, and if something happened he would fix it before it got out of hand, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I guess you could say I was afraid. Afraid I would accidentally hurt or even kill someone if I unintentionally created something dangerous.

Even though the Doctor constantly tried to assure me that I wasn’t dangerous, I didn’t believe him. I had a feeling he knew something that he didn’t want me to know about. I asked him a couple of times out of the blue if anything was wrong or if he knew anything yet, but he would only say “no.” I could tell he was lying though.

Whatever it was that he was hiding from me it had to be for a good reason. Right? He always says that I’m under his protection and that he would never let anything hurt me. If this was his way of protecting me, then so be it. I’m sure I’ll learn eventually what it is that clever man is hiding.

 

~

“I sent you out to collect as many cubes as you could in twenty four hours. And look at you; you’ve made a right hash of it, haven’t you? Well, Craig, you’re fired.” Lord Sugar said on the television.

I made a face. _This is show is crap._ The Doctor, Amy, Rory and I were sitting around the television watching some show I forgot the name of. It was a lazy Sunday so we all agreed to just sit around and watch bad television, much to the Doctor’s dismay.

“Claire, please try one!” The Doctor pleaded shoving a fish finger drenched in custard in my face.

I scrunched my nose in disgust. “Doctor, I’ve told you a thousand of times that I hate fish.”

He pulled the puppy-dog-face. “Please…”

With a sigh of defeat I accepted the weird food he was obsessed with. I eyed it carefully before taking a tiny hesitant bite. I gagged. “Oh my God, that is disgusting.”

The Doctor frowned. “Fine. More for me.” He pulled the fish finger from my hand and shoved it in his mouth. “You know, if I had a restaurant, this’d be all I’d serve.”

Amy laughed through a mouthful of fish custard. “Yeah, right. You running a restaurant.”

“I’ve run restaurants. Who do you think invented the Yorkshire pudding?” He said with a smile as he draped his arm across my shoulders.

“You didn’t.” Rory laughed in disbelief.

“Pudding, yet savory. Sound familiar?” He examined a fish finger dripping with custard. I caught him looking at me from the corner of his eye an evil smirk slowly crossing those beautiful lips of his.

“What-“ I was cut off when the Doctor suddenly bopped me on the nose with the fish stick leaving a huge glob of custard in it’s spot.

I glared at him playfully. “You did not just do that.”

He took a bite out of the fish stick. “Oh I believe I just did.”

A smirk graced my lips as I snuck my hand inside the bowl of custard. When he wasn’t looking I took a handful and slapped it on his face.

“Oi!” He laughed wiping the cream from his face.

I let out a loud eruption of giggles only to have an equal amount of custard thrown at me. It didn’t take long for the two of us to break into a full out food fight.

“Oi! If you two make a mess of my living room you’re cleaning it up.” Amy hollered escaping from her place on the couch besides the Doctor in attempt to avoid being hit.

“Right. I’m going to take these away.” Rory said taking the empty bowls away from us. “And you two are going to go clean your faces because you both look absolutely atrocious.”

The Doctor and I stopped chucking custard at one another and took a moment to examine each other’s faces. A loud snort burst from me at the sight of the Doctor. Huge globs of custard were sticking to his face the majority clung to his enormous chin and nose. The Doctor joined in my laughter as he pointed at my face.

“My god, Claire, I am so sorry.” He laughed.

Yes, my face was covered, but unfortunately a lot of the nasty stuff was caked in my hair. _Ugh that’s going to be painful to get out._ I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m going to go take a shower, you should probably wash your face first.”

With that our little custard war came to an end.

 

~

 

After a nice hot shower, I walked into the living room only to find the Doctor jumping around and whacking a tennis racket on the Wii. I rolled my eyes at him before settling myself on the couch.

“The Wii again?” I asked watching him in amusement.

“Well there’s nothing else to do around here.” He grumbled.

“Hey, you said you wouldn’t complain this time.”

“I went almost a month now without complaining isn’t that enough?”

“No, it’s not.” I joked.

“Play with me.” He ordered throwing an extra tennis racket at me.

I sighed. “You know I’m not good at video games.”

“Fine, we’ll play on the same team this time.”

“Ok, this way you can’t cheat.” I said getting up and joining him.

“Oi, I do not cheat!” I raised an eyebrow at him only to have him crumble underneath my gaze. “Ok, I did once on Mario cart. Sorry about that by the way.”

I laughed and nudged him in the shoulder. “Just shut up and start the game.”

The Doctor started a new game and as usual he was gaining all of the points.

“Oh, yes! Second set, Doctor! Ha, ha!” He cried happily jumping up on the couch and wiggling his butt in the air. He jumped back beside me and wagged his tennis racket around. “Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh? He’d probably ask for his shorts back.”

“You stole the man’s shorts?” I asked.

“No, I bet him in a match that if I won, I’d get to take one article of his clothing for a year.” He explained.

I stared up at him blankly. “Why on earth would you want an article of his clothing?”

The Doctor shrugged. “He was rather fond of my bowtie. So I said that if he won he could have my bowtie for a year, but if I won then I could have any article of clothing from him for a year. It’s been about almost ten years since I beat him, so I guess he’s off somewhere short-less.”

I shook my head at him.

“Third set decider, come on, then.” He said to himself as he started the next round.

At that moment one of the cubes flew in front of the Doctor’s face blocking his view.

“Doctor…”

“Out of the way dear, I’m trying to-“ He noticed the cube and glared at it. “Whatever you are, this planet, these people are precious to me.” He pushed me slightly behind him. “And I will defend them to my last breath.”

He continued to examine it, a look of disgust on his face. I tried peering around his shoulder to get a better look, but alas I was too short.

“Is that all you can do, hover? I had a metal dog that could do that.”

I rolled my eyes at the mention of K-9.

“Ooo, that’s clever, what’s that?” The Doctor asked suddenly. Before I could decipher what was going on the Doctor grabbed me and pushed me to the ground covering me with his body in the process.

A vase shattered behind us. The Doctor quickly grabbed my hand and the two of us jumped over the couch for cover. The cube continued to follow us shooting lasers at us in the process. We hid behind a wall finally escaping the cube’s wraith. We popped our heads out to see what the cube was doing. Images began flashing across the TV screen as it started to upload something.

“Ooo, you really have woken up.” The Doctor said.

“DOCTOR!” Rory shouted from the next room. The two of us quickly met up with him in the hallway. “Hi. Err, the cube in there, it just opened.”

“The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!” Amy cried running down the stairs.

“Ha! Really? Ours fired laser bolts and now it’s surfing the net.”

Brian then came bursting through the front door. “You’re not going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled.”

The Doctor started laughing excitedly before donning his tweed jacket and running back into the living room. Rory’s cell phone went off.

“Hello? Ok, I’m on my way.”

The Doctor came running back and scooped me up in his arms and twirled me around in a small circle. “Finally some action!” He laughed putting me down.

“I have to get to work. They need all the help they can get.”

“Let me come help out.” Brian suggested.

“Take you’re dad to work night, brilliant!” Rory clapped his dad on the shoulder. “Okay, are you going to be alright here?” He asked turning to Amy.

She pecked him on the cheek. “Keep away from the cubes.” She said sternly.

“Right.”

Rory and Brian left the room leaving just Amy, the Doctor, and I. The Doctor came up to me and draped his arm across my shoulders grinning down at his psychic paper. I raised an eyebrow at him as I glanced down at the psychic paper. _Still blank._

“We’re wanted at the Tower of London.” He smiled snapping the wallet closed and stuffing it back in his coat pocket.

 

~

 

It was pitch black outside by the time we arrived at the Tower of London. One of the guards at UNIT opened the door for us allowing Amy, The Doctor, and I to scramble out of the limousine Kate sent to collect us. As soon as we stepped out of the car, Kate greeted us.

“Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment.” She told us as she led us through a small corridor.

“Now we’re in business.” The Doctor exclaimed. “You sent me a message to my psychic paper. You know what? I’m almost impressed.”

“Secret base beneath the Tower. Hope we’re not here because we know to much.” Amy stated bluntly.

“Yes, I’ve got officers trained in beheading. Also ravens of death.”

Amy nodded towards the Doctor and I. “I like her.”

The Doctor and I nodded in unison sharing a small smile.

Kate led us into a huge room filled with many individual armored cubicles each containing a cube. “There are fifty being monitored. And more coming all the time.” She said leading us around the room. “I don’t know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually. There’s no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity.”

Amy touched the glass on one and the cube started to produce flames.

Kate gestured to a cubical containing a woman weeping. “Some create mood swings.”

The Doctor walked up to the glass and watched the woman curiously as Amy ran up to a cube that didn’t appear to be doing anything.

“What’s this one?” She asked.

“Try the door.”

Amy threw open the door and the ‘Chicken Dance’ played obnoxiously throughout the room. Amy stared at it in disgust while the Doctor plugged his ears. I tried to hold in a laugh and pretended to flap my arms like wings. The Doctor chuckled at me while Amy quickly shut the door.

“On a loop!” Kate called.

Kate led the three of us over to a group of computers. “This is the latest.”

The Doctor stepped up to one of the screens and began typing furiously on it. “Oh dear. Systems breach at the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East.”

“I’ve got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them.” Kate sighed. “I’m lost, Doctor. We all are.”

The Doctor glanced at her with a look of empathy. “Don’t despair, Kate. Your dad never did.” He smiled as he recalled a past memory. “Kate Stewart, heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not? Why did you drop Lethbridge?”

“I didn’t want any favors. Though he guided me, even to the end. Science leads, he always told me. Said he learned that from an old friend.”

“We don’t let him down. We don’t let this planet down.”

A soft beeping came from one of the computers as a researcher stared at it in disbelief. “They’ve stopped. The cubes, across the world, they just shut down.” He said in shock.

“Active for forty seven minutes, and then they just die?” Kate questioned, disbelief written all over her face.

“Not dead. Dormant, maybe.” The Doctor answered quickly glancing around the room in thought.

“Then why shut down?” Amy asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I need to think. I need some air.” The Doctor turned towards the door a look of disgust denting his features. “Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation.”

“Maybe I should go see if he’s ok.” I worried staring at the door he just walked through.

“No, you stay here. I’ll go talk to him.” Amy said quickly.

“But I don’t want to be alone.” I pouted. “I don’t know anyone.”

“Oh hush. I’ll only be a minute. Just watch some cubes. I don’t know. Be back in a moment.” With that she was out the door.

I considered following after her, but decided against it. She obviously needed to talk to the Doctor privately. With a heavy sigh I walked over to one of the glass cubicles and examined a now dormant cube. _Why would they just stop?_

 

** The Doctor’s POV **

****

I had seated myself comfortably on the ledge over looking the cityscape. The sound of a pair of footsteps running towards me caused me to turn my head around. Honestly, I was expecting it to be Claire, actually hoping it was Claire, but I was surprised to find Amelia Pond take a seat beside me.

“You ok?” Amy asked watching me carefully.

I furrowed my brows. “I’m ok. These cubes are really beginning to get on my nerves. The moment they arrived, I should’ve made sure they were collected and burned. That is what I should’ve done.” A heavy sigh escaped my lips.

“How? Nobody would’ve listened.”

I paused. “You’re thinking of stopping, aren’t you? You and Rory.”

“No, I mean, we haven’t made a decision.” She started to say, but I quickly cut her off.

“But you’re considering it.”

She scrunched her nose at me before sighing. “Maybe. I don’t know. We don’t know. Well, our lives have changed so much. But there was a time, there were years, when I couldn’t live without you. When just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know, we’ve built a life. I don’t know if I can have both.”

“Why?”

“Because they pull at each other. Because they pull at me, and because the traveling is starting to feel like running away.”

“That’s not what it is.” I said in defense.

Amy scoffed. “Oh, come on. Look at you, four days in a lounge and you go crazy.”

“Hey, I lasted almost a month this time.” I objected.

Amy smiled. “That’s because you were too busy flirting with Claire the whole time.  Face it if she wasn’t there, you would’ve gone nuts on day one.”

I glared at her. “I was not flirting with her.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Tough! I’ve seen the way you look at her, Mr. You like her and don’t you dare deny it!”

I frowned and looked down at my hands. _Yes, I did like Claire. But I couldn’t like her in that way. Not after all of the things I’ve lost. Rose, River… She would grow old and die away. I couldn’t handle loosing her._ I shook my head. “It wouldn’t work.”

Amy narrowed her eyes at me. “What do you mean it wouldn’t work? I’m certain she likes you back. Don’t tell her I said that.”

I smiled at her before changing the subject. “I’m not running away. This is one corner of a planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much more, so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I’m not running away from things, I am running to them before they flare and fade away forever. And it’s alright Our lives won’t run the same. They can’t. One day, soon maybe, you’ll stop. I’ve known for awhile.”

“Ok, way to change the subject, but I’ll get back to that later. Why do you keep coming back for us?”

I smiled lightly. “Because you were the first. The first face this face saw and you’re seared onto my hearts, Amelia Pond. You always will be. I’m running to you and Rory, and Claire. Before you fade from me.”

Amy glared at me. “Don’t be nice to me. Now you are going to answer more of my questions.”

I gulped before nodding for her to continue.

“Yes, Rory and I may stop traveling with you. Who knows how soon or how far that may be from this moment, but that doesn’t mean that Claire isn’t going to. I can tell that Claire is going to stay with you for a long time. Hey, probably even longer than I traveled with you for, but I want to know. Why won’t it work between you and Claire? I know that it most certainly isn’t River. You fancy her Doctor, you may not want to admit it, but you do. You said you were running to us. To her. Why don’t you live up to that?”

I felt my hearts beat wildly against my chest. _Amy is not going to live this down._ I sighed heavily. “Yeah, you do.” I confirmed before staring her dead in the eyes. “You always get what you want, Pond. No matter what, things will always go your way.”

Amy smiled widely when she realized what I was letting on.

“And unfortunately the cubes are getting what they want as well. Let’s deal with them first, come on.”

Amy squealed loudly before trapping me in a warm embrace. I rolled my eyes at her as I led the two of us back into the underground base.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** **All Doctor Who characters belong to the BBC.**

About ten minutes had passed when the Doctor and Amy came barging into the room.

“Kate? Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical history to your military response patterns. They made a complete assessment of Planet Earth and its inhabitants. That’s what the surge of activity was.” The Doctor called as he came rushing down the stairs.

I ran up to him and threw my arms around his waist in a quick hug. “You okay?” I asked in concern.

“Never been better.” He said with a smile. At that moment the power went out. “Problem with the power?” He asked scanning the room with his sonic.

“Not possible. We’ve got back ups.” Kate responded.

The Doctor licked his lips and let out a soft “hmm.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me around the room with him. The buzzing of the sonic filled the air and the faint green light that it gave off acted as our flashlight.

“Doctor? Look.” Amy called pointing to a cube. A blue seven glowed brightly on all of its sides.

“What?”

“Why do they all say seven?” I asked glancing around the room. All of the cubes read seven.

“Seven.” The Doctor thought aloud. “Seven, what’s important about seven? Seven wonders of the world, seven streams in the River Ota, seven sides of a cube.”

“A cube has six sides.” Amy corrected.

“Not if you count the inside.” The Doctor said softly scanning the cube with his sonic. The seven on the cube changed to a six and the lights immediately came back on.

“It has to be a countdown.” He started walking to the room with the computers, the rest of us following close behind.

“Not in minutes.” Kate added.

“Why would it be in minutes? Kate, we have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they’ll do if they hit zero. Get the information out any way you can. News channels, websites, radio, text messages. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous.” The Doctor ordered.

“Okay, why is it starting now? I mean the cubes arrived months ago. Why wait this long?” Amy asked.

“Because they’re clever. Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their homes, their lives. Humans, the great early adopters and then, wham!” The Doctor smacked his hands together causing me to jump slightly. “Profile every inch of Earth’s existence.”

“Discover how best to attack us.” Kate offered.

“Get that information out any way you can. Go!”

“Right.” Kate muttered to herself.

Kate, Amy and I followed the Doctor over to the computers. “Every cube was activated. There must be signals; energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace. There can’t be.” The Doctor turned around to face us. “We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities, okay? Go, go, go!”

Kate immediately set off to work leaving Amy and I alone with the Doctor. The Doctor quickly turned back to the computer screen and began typing at lightning speed.

Anxiety nibbled away at me as I watched the cubes count down to four. _Oh, God. What are they going to do?_

 

~

“Doctor, please. You don’t have to do this.” Amy pleaded.

The four of us were looking into a sealed off cubicle with a single cube and a chair. The Doctor wanted to sit in there with it to find out what will happen when it counts down to zero.

“She’s right. You don’t have to be in there. We can do this remotely.” Kate interjected.

The Doctor spun around. “Remotely isn’t my style. See you after.” He kissed his hand and smacked it against Amy’s head as she pulled a look of disgust.

I quickly reached my hand out to him resting it gently on his left arm. The Doctor turned around and smiled at me. He wrapped me up in his arms and kissed my cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He whispered.

“But what if you don’t come back.” I choked back tears.

He pulled away and cupped my face in his hands. “Hey, I always come back.” With that he planted one final kiss on my forehead before entering the cubicle.

He sat in the chair just as the number on the cube turned to two. He smiled at us and threw us a friendly wave before turning back to the cube which now read ‘1’. I held my breath as we waited for the cube to strike zero. Anxiety was eating me alive as I prayed that my Doctor would be ok.

Finally the cube reached zero, but nothing happened. The Doctor glanced at us as Amy and I shared looks of confusion. The cube then turned blank and the top of it opened up.

“Geronimo.” The Doctor muttered.

“What’s happening?” Kate asked.

“Shh!” I hushed her before turning my attention back to the Doctor who smirked smugly. He peered into the cube and frowned.

“Well? What’s in there?” Amy asked.

“There is nothing in here.” The Doctor muttered in disappointment.

“Er, well, that’s good. It’s not, it’s not bombs, its not aliens.”

“Why? Why is there nothing inside? Why? It doesn’t make any sense.” The Doctor grumbled running out of the cubicle. The three of us ran after him and into the computer room.

“Glasses, is it the same? Is it the same all around the world?” He called to the researcher working at the monitors.

“They’re empty. We’re safe, right?” Kate asked a worried expression crossing her features.

“Ah, no, no, no, we are very far from safe. All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don’t contain anything?”

Amy and I watched the monitors in horror as people started gripping their chests and falling to the ground.

“Doctor, look.” Amy said.

The Doctor turned to the screens as Glasses started explaining what was happening.

“They’re CCTV feeds from across the world. They’re showing the same.”

“People are dying.” Kate gasped.

I immediately looked to the Doctor. _People who were near the cubes were dying. But the Doctor isn’t human. He’s fine._ I tried to reassure myself.

“What? They can’t be dying. How? How are they dying?” The Doctor asked.

“I want information on how people are being affected.” Kate ordered.

The Doctor started rubbing his head in thought. “The cubes brought people close together. They opened and then- ARGH!” The Doctor clutched at his chest and fell back into a chair screaming in pain.

“DOCTOR!” I shrieked immediately rushing to his side. “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“Doctor, what’s the matter?” Amy asked.

“Argh. Ah, I don’t know!” He cried.

“Hospitals are logging a global surge in heart failures.” Glasses informed us.

The Doctor pointed at him in pain. “That’s it!” He gasped. “Oh! Oh! OH!” The Doctor started hitting his chest. “Only one heart. Other one’s not working!”

“Ok, I’m taking you to the hospital!” Amy shouted.

I quickly grabbed the back of his chair as the two of us raced him towards the door.

“Oh, no, no, no. Just a short circuit. Turn around, turn around.” I spun him around and rolled him over to the monitors. “Tell, me. Ten seconds after the cubes opened, show me patterns in their electrical currents.” He ordered.

The monitor displayed a heartbeat.

“See?”

“No!” Kate gasped.

“Yes, the power cut. They zapped the power and then- ARGH!” He clutched his heart again before jumping back to the computer. “They’re signal boxes. People leaning in, wham. Pure electrical surge out of the cube targeted at the nearest human heart. The heart, an organ powered by electrical currents, short-circuited. How to destroy a human? Go for the heart.” He whacked Glasses’s chest multiple times before clutching at his own heart in pain. “Crikey Moses.”

“Doctor, the scan you set running, the transmitter locations. It’s found them.” Kate informed.

“And look at them all, pulsing bold as brass. Seven of them, all across the world. OW!” He cried clutching his heart. I placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to soothe him. “Seven stations, seven minutes. Why is that important? ARGH! OW, OW.” He threw his head back in pain to look at me. “How do you people manage one heart, it is pitiful.” He turned back to the screens. “A wormhole, bridging two dimensions. Seven of them hitched onto this planet, but where’s the closest one? Glasses, zoom in.”

The screen zoomed in on a large building. “That’s the hospital where Rory works.” Amy whispered.

 

~

“How many deaths have been recorded?” The Doctor asked as we walked into the hospital. Amy and I stood on either side of him, ready to catch him in case he fell over.

“We don’t know. We think it could be a third of the population.” Kate said.

“Kate, I have to find the wormhole, but the attacks could still happen. Tell the world. Tell them how to deal with this. The world needs your leadership right now.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Of course you will. Good luck, Kate.” Kate nodded before taking off. “ARGH!” The Doctor cried out leaning on a wall for support.

“Ok, how long are you going to last with only one heart?” Amy asked as the two of helped him to his feet. The Doctor wrapped an arm around both of our shoulders for support. He reached inside his pocket for his sonic, causing both Amy and I to nearly suffocate, as he held onto our heads for dear life.

“Not much longer. I need to locate the wormhole portal.” He said waving his sonic around.

The sonic started beeping and led us to little girl standing not too far behind us. “Hello. Hello! You are giving off some very strange signals.” He let go of the two of us.

The girl’s face started glowing blue.

“Oh, my God.” Amy and I said in unison.

“Outlier droid, monitoring everything. If I shut her down I can-“ The girl collapsed but the Doctor quickly caught her. “It’s alright, it’s alright.” He cooed. “ARGH!” He screamed letting go of the little girl. He leaned up against the wall. “I can’t do it. I need both hearts!” He gasped. He fell to the ground screaming in agony.

I knelt down beside trying to assure him that he would be ok. _Please, be ok!_ Tears started prickling at my eyes as my Doctor suffered. He grabbed my hand and squeezed the life out of it.

“Claire, rip open his shirt.” Amy ordered taking me completely off guard.

“What?” I asked flabbergasted.

She grabbed a portable defibrillator. “Just do it! Desperate measures, Claire!” She shouted running over with our last hope.

The Doctor started protesting. “What? No! No, no, no. That won’t work. I’m a Time Lord.” I ripped open his shirt just as Amy prepared the stabilizers. “Ah!” He screamed at an unusually high voice.

“Alright, clear!” Amy cried shocking him.

The Doctor sat up immediately breathing heavily. Within a matter of seconds he jumped to his feet. “WHOO HOO! Welcome back, lefty! Whoa-ho! Two hearts! Whoo!” The Doctor cried happily doing a weird little dance. “Back in the game!” He struck a ridiculous pose causing me to erupt into a fit of giggles. _Thank God, he’s alive._ He turned to Amy and kissed her forehead. “Never do that to me again.” He warned, earning an annoyed eye roll from her.

He then turned to me and immediately lifted me up off the ground and spun me around in circles clutching me close to his chest. I buried my face in the crook of his neck giggling like an idiot. He placed me back on the ground and pressed his lips to both of my cheeks before bopping me on the nose. He then quickly buttoned up his shirt before grabbing my hand and taking off down the hallway.

“Oi! Don’t forget about me!” Amy called running after us.

We stopped at a lift in an abandoned hallway.

“Ah, portal to another dimension in a goods lift?” Amy asked in confusion.

The Doctor frowned at the reading on his sonic. “The energy signals converge here. Does seem a bit cramped though.” He led us into the elevator. The Doctor looked around the area suspiciously before settling on the wall in front of us. The wall seemed to glimmer like some sort of mirage. He reached his index finger out and poked it. His finger went through it as the wall made a weird ‘vwoorping’ noise.

He glanced at the two of us, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. “Through the looking glass, ladies?”

We smiled in return and took his hands before walking through the wibbly wall.

Everything around us was pitch black.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“We’re in orbit. One dimension to the left.” He answered.

We soon entered a room filled with people lying on gurneys. In front of us I spotted Rory and Brian laid out on slabs.

“Rory!” Amy gasped running to his side.

The Doctor pulled a small pouch out of his pocket and tossed it to Amy. “Soborian smelling salts. Outlawed in seven galaxies.”

Amy waved the salts under Rory’s nose and he quickly sat up, right when someone shot at us. We quickly ducked out of the way; the Doctor shielded me with his body before popping his head up when the coast was clear.

“Whoa! Whoa! What kind of a welcome do you call that?” He shouted. “Get them out of here. You two as well. Now!” The Doctor ordered. He placed a kiss to my forehead before pushing me in the direction of the exit.

Doing as I was told I bolted for the exit. Amy and Rory pushing Brian, who had just woken up, following close behind me.

“What do we do?” I asked them once they met with me in the hospital wing.

“Simple, we leave Brian here and we go back and help the Doctor.” Amy answered grabbing my hand.

“But, the Doctor said to-“ I started.

“Yeah, yeah. I know what the Doctor said, but he knows that I never listen to him. Now come on!”

Ignoring my protests Amy dragged me back through the wibbly wall.

~

“The human contagion must be eliminated.” The alien said.

“Who are you calling a contagion?” Amy called out, popping up next to the Doctor.

“Oi! Didn’t I tell you three to go?” He scolded.

“It was all Amy’s idea.” I said putting my hands up in mock defense.

“You should’ve learned by now.” Rory grumbled.

“Yeah, and what is this Tally anyway?” Amy asked.

“Some people call it Judgment Day, or the Reckoning.” The Doctor informed.

“Don’t you know?”

“I never wanted to find out.”

“Before the Closure, there is the Tally. The Shakri serves the Tally.” The Shakri said.

“The pest controller’s of the universe, that’s how the tales went, isn’t it?”

“Wow. That’s some seriously weird bedtime story.” Amy said.

“You can talk. Wolf in your grandmother’s nightdress?” The Doctor scoffed. “So, you are depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans would collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside. Because that’s what they are. Not pests or plague, creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does. But, but they learn. And they strive for greater, and they achieve it. You want a tally. Put their achievements against their failings through the whole of time, I will back humanity against the Shakri every time.”

The Shakri started to chuckle to himself. “The Tally must be met. The second wave will be released.”

“What does that mean?” Amy asked.

“It’s going to release more cubes to kill more people.” The Doctor stated.

“The human plague breeding and fighting, and when cornered, their rage to destroy. You’re too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met.” All of a sudden the Shakri started to flicker before completely vanishing from sight.

“He’s gone!” Amy gasped.

“He was never really here, just the ship’s automated interface, like a talking propaganda poster.” The Doctor ran over to the screen the alien once stood at. “I can stop the second wave. I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the dark space. Ah, but all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them will have died.” He stopped scanning the screen and paused in thought.

“Amy restarted one of your hearts.” I reminded him.

“We would need mass defibrillation.” Rory offered.

“Of course! Ah, beautiful. But, Ponds and Claire, we are going to go one better than that. The Shakri used the cubes to turn people’s hearts off. Bingo! We’re going to use them to turn them back on again.”

“Will that work?” Amy asked.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic. “Well, creatures of hope. Has to.”

“Thirty seconds.” The Doctor finished sonicking the screen. “Don’t let me down, cubes, you’re working for me now. Oh dear. All these cubes. There’s going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here any second. Run.” The Doctor grabbed my hand and the two of us bolted for the exit the Ponds following close behind us.

A loud explosion went off just as we jumped into the safety of the elevator. The four of us shared worried looks before hopping to our feet.

“Are you ok?” The Doctor asked me, helping me up.

I smiled. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me all the time.”

He smirked. “I’ll always worry about you, whether you like it or not.”

I stared at him for a second completely taken off guard by his comment. “Umm, thank you? I guess. Oh never mind.” I blurted before exiting the elevator.

“Right, Mr. Pond and I are going to take Brian home and order Chinese for dinner. Seeing as there’s not that much room in the car you can hitch a ride home with the Doctor.” Amy winked at me.

“But Amy, he doesn’t even have the TARDIS here.” I argued.

“Hmm, you guys will think of something. Meet you back home.” Before I could argue with her anymore she and her husband left, leaving me alone with the Doctor.

“Where are they going?” The Doctor asked emerging from the lift.

“They’re ditching us for Chinese that’s what they’re doing.” I grumbled.

The Doctor scrunched his nose. “Well that’s not very nice. Come on let’s clear things up with Kate then we’ll meet them there.”

The two of us walked outside where we immediately met up with Kate.

Kate smiled when she spotted us. “You really are as remarkable as Dad said.” She then reached up and placed a kiss on the Doctor’s cheek.

I felt jealousy start to burn in my core, but I quickly shooed it away. _Why am I jealous of every girl who touches him?_

The Doctor looked down at her in surprise. “My! A kiss from a Lethbridge Stewart. That is new. But sorry, I’m taken.” He winked draping an arm around my shoulders. I felt me heart skip a beat in my chest before it started pounding furiously. _What did he just say? No, no, he’s married remember. But Claire, he said that and then draped his arm across your shoulders. His arm is still across your shoulders! By the way, he has made quite a habit of this as well as kissing your forehead and bopping you on the nose. Those could be some very valuable hints. Okay, mind I need you to shut up now!_

The Doctor looked down at his wrist. “Oh dear, we’re late for dinner.” He held out a hand for her to shake, but quickly pulled it away as a joke. Kate laughed at his silliness and waved as the two of us hopped in the car.

 

~

 

Brian, Amy, Rory, the Doctor, and I all sat around the family table eating Chinese food with chopsticks. The Doctor let out a disgusting burp.

“Doctor that’s disgusting.” I scolded as everyone erupted into fits of laughter.

“You two act a lot like an old married couple. Trust me, I would know.” Brian laughed taking a sip of his water.

I felt a blush tint my cheeks as Amy wiggled her eyebrows at me from across the table.

The Doctor swallowed his food with a loud gulp looking down at his wristwatch. “Dear me. I’d better get going. Err… we better get going. Things to do, worlds to save, swings to swing on.” He said awkwardly obviously trying to escape as soon as possible. He stuffed a fortune cookie in his pocket before getting up. He made to leave, but stopped and draped his arms across Amy and Rory’s shoulders. “Look, I know you both have lives here. Beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don’t want to give them up. I understand.”

“Actually, it’s you they can’t give up, Doctor. And I don’t think they should. Go with him. Go save every world you can find. Who else has a chance? Life will still be here.” Brian said.

“You should come, Brian.”

“Someone’s got to water the plants. Just bring them back safe.”

The Doctor nodded with a small smile. “Right then, let’s get going.”

The three of us followed him into the TARDIS after saying goodbye to Brian.

“So where to next?” The Doctor asked flipping a few switches.

“Actually can we wait a day before heading off somewhere? I want to rest. This whole cube nonsense has really boosted my stress levels.” Amy groaned.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Fine, we’ll wait a day. You humans can be so boring sometimes.” He grumbled in annoyance.

“But you still love us.” Amy smirked. She ran over to me and threw her arms around me. “Be up and ready by 9 tomorrow. We got business to discuss and events to prepare for.” She whispered in my ear.

I pulled away from her in confusion. “What on earth are you talking about?”

She winked. “You’ll see.”

I didn’t like where this was going. Amy had some sort of evil plan for tomorrow and I had a feeling I was going to be left an embarrassed mess.


End file.
